Innerhouse Relations
by LifesADarkArt
Summary: Draco/Hermione are Hogwarts professors/heads of house. A new program set by Headmistress McGonagall will end house rivalry by forcing activities on the students requiring them to get to know one another. Can the students do it if the professors can't? R
1. This Can't Be Good

Interhouse Relations

Chapter 1

Hermione was nearing the end of her favorite class hour with her favorite set of students. Her advanced History Of Magic group made up the best parts of her week and she looked forward to every hour she got to spend with this lot. Not only because they were smart, no, she loved them because only students dedicated and interested in History Of Magic ever took the advanced class. This made for and open discussion period full of wit and intrigue. But the best part she must confess, was the fact that the house boundaries didn't exist.

Only in this one class, did Slytherins and Gryffindors pare up, and Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws compare notes. If only it were her last class of the day. But alas, it was not. Hermione could think of plenty of things that could ruin a day, bad weather, a cold, finding out that your boyfriend is cheating on you. She'd had all those things happen and worse, still never once was she depressed enough to want to quit her job and leave Hogwarts behind. In fact, she was sure that only one thing in the world made her feel like crawling into a corner, and it was entering her room as we speak. Double History Of Magic with the Gryffindor and Slytherin First years.

You can imagine how hard it is to get first years to pay attention, let alone to History Of Magic. Add to that an ancient feud and a Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher who loves to fan the flames. Not to mention that all these irritated students came from that said teachers class to a double hour of their least favorite subject with their least favorite group of people.

Hermione watched as they entered the room and began the natural division which was now tradition. The air was thick with animosity and she could see that there would be no willingness for discussion judging from the grimaces, scowls and glares present around the room.

He did it on purpose of course. He did a lot of things on purpose she knew, and today she would suffer through this class, just as much as her students. All thanks to him.

"Professor Granger?" came a small voice.

Hermione was taken aback by the utterance. It had become set in stone for months now. No one spoke in this class unless spoken to and even then Hermione was pulling teeth.

She shook her head clear of the shock and answered. "Yes Devin?"

Hermione was particularly fond of Devin, the first of his six generation family who wasn't sorted into Hufflepuff. He was a very cute, very simple minded ginger Slytherin boy who, try as he might, wanted to befriend everyone from all houses. Unfortunately it didn't bode well with anyone, leaving him more friendless than anything.

The boy cleared his throat calling the attention of the class.

"Is it true that throughout history the greatest and most famous witches and wizards have all been pure bloods?"

Hermione felt like she'd just been punched in the gut. What kind of nonsense? But she knew then why everyone was in such a foul mood. Damn him. He was always doing this, putting her in awkward spots with his idiotic mouth.

Hermione glanced around the room and every face was awaiting an answer. On the left, a sea of green and silver was a smug mess. On the right, red and gold rolled their eyes and gritted their teeth.

"Let's see," Hermione began. To be frank, it was true but also a matter of opinion. And he knew it would be, she thought angrily. He also knew she couldn't lie. The only thing she could do was to put it in less his words and more hers. "It is true, the pure bloods have done a lot for the establishment of magical society but that is only because a long time ago there were only purebloods, then there were mostly pure bloods, and now there are more witches and wizards with muggle blood in them than pureblooded ones. And most of our society is and will continue to be expanded on by muggle borns and half bloods everyday. So we owe it to our pure blood ancestors for what they've done and to our mixed heritage for our advances." Hermione summed.

The Gryffindors looked happier than Hermione could ever remember. And the Slytherins toned down their smugness. For the first time in months, she'd done something right with this class, and she could hardly believe it.

"Anything else, Devin?" Hermione asked, feeling the happiest she'd felt in weeks. Maybe today was the beginning of a new chapter with this class.

"Yeah," Devin began, "what's a mudblood?" From there, all hell broke loose. Shouting, punching, hexing, cursing, and jinxing. If Hermione, having been not only the brightest witch of her time, but also the quickest with spells, hadn't stopped it and blocked as many nasty curses as she could, poor simple Devin, may have been in disrepair. Even after disarming most of them the brawling continued until a neighboring class of 7th years helped pull the children off of each other. By the end of it there was a loss of 150 points to each house and a few broken bones, bloodied noses, disgusting rash jinxes, and a new program to be put into action immediately by the order of the Headmaster of Hogwarts Minerva McGonagall. As of next week, special events were to take place as to promote 'interhouse relations.'

The announcement was made at the start of dinner. There was definitely a dark aura in the Great Hall that night, and while the end of class and beginning of dinner was usually a loud and rowdy affair, tonight, all that could be heard were the clinking of forks to plates and seldom a cough or the clearing of a throat.

As Hermione sat at the staff table picking at her food, she couldn't help but notice that quite a lot of eyes were looking her way. There was no way that anyone should be under the impression that this was her fault. Of course it happened in her class, but was anyone going to question how tensions got to so high between those first years. As if on cue a heavy sigh sounded beside her as the chair was pulled out, sat in and Professor Malfoy began loading his plate while complaining.

"I can't believe this tripe." he began, just loud enough for Hermione to hear. "I'll have McGonagall know that I have never had any problems like this in my class. So why is it that I have to go through with this as well? How incredibly selfish can people be?"

Was Hermione really hearing this? She wanted to slap him, wring his neck. How could he possible even utter such words?

But Hermione calmed herself. She was a Hogwarts professor and as such, was sure that the childish display she was about to cause, was out of the question.

Instead, she cleared her throat and addressed him casually. "Indeed Professor Malfoy, selfish. But honestly I can't wait. This school has needed something like this desperately and I'm just glad I get to be part of Hogwarts history." Hermione confided. They may be in school but they weren't students anymore. Hermione wasn't a Gryffindor nor was Malfoy a Slytherin. Here as Hogwarts professors they were just people, co workers. She promised herself at the beginning of the year that she would remember that.

Draco scoffed. "How vary valiant of you Granger, but to try and change what has determined the way Hogwarts student have lived since it was founded. And who are you, let alone me or anyone else, to try and change a time honored tradition" he laughed.

Screw coming off childish, Hermione thought.

"This is your fault Malfoy. The least you can do is acknowledge the problem." Hermione said a little louder than she meant to. There were eyes on them around the room.

"It wasn't my classroom Granger." He retorted loudly.

"It may as well have been, the way you send them to me ready to fight to the death. It most certainly couldn't have been my doing that within the first three minutes of my class a war breaks out from the animosity they bring with them from your lessons." Hermione spat.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but your class must be pretty dreadful if they can't stand three minutes of a double hour class eh?" he countered with that flippant air of his that made her want to kill him.

"Don't know what I'm-" she began in outrage. "So telling them that purebloods are the better of the wizarding world, wasn't your doing?" Hermione yelled.

" I did no such thing. I can't help how first years interpret things in their heads. Especially Devin Marcy for god's sake," he said with a wave of dismissal.

"Why you-"

"Enough Professor Granger." McGonagall began. "Would you and Professor Malfoy join me for a moment?" She stood from her seat and when she got to the back door of the staff table she turned back to the two of them. "Now." She said firmly.

Hermione and Draco followed wordlessly until they were down a hall and out of earshot of the other teachers.

"I see now what may be causing the problems we are having," said McGonagall.

Hermione, knowing exactly what she was about to say, was ready to interject and tell her that she and Draco can't be souly laid to blame for the hundreds of years of Hogwarts house hatred, when McGonagall gave her a look that commanded silence.

"You two," She began, "are the heads of your former houses and have gained enough knowledge to understand that there's more to life than silly childhood titles and yet you set such a poor example of that to your students and their susceptible minds. You two are both old enough to set differences aside and young enough to inspire your pupils to do the same. You'll work together and civility will be present between you at all times. Is that understood?" she finished with her mouth pulled in a tight line. Hermione could remember the last time she'd ever been scolded and it was by the very same woman who stood before her now. Even many years later this woman could make her feel like a child and beside her she was sure Draco felt the same from the way his arms were crossed defensively and his eyes were directed at anything but toward McGonagall. Hermione smiled to herself. McGonagall took their silence as an agreement.

"Now," she continued, "Refrain from embarrassing yourselves further for the rest of dinner and I expect both of you to reassure your students in their common rooms tonight of the knowledge there is to be had in these coming weeks, before lights out. Miss Granger, as always, perform your duties with the prefects then both of you should report to my office _together_ for further discussion."

She gave both of them a hard look before turning on her heel and re-entering the Great Hall.

"Well," Draco started, "I'll be in my room. Retrieve me before you head to McGonagall's office later, will you?"

Hermione was in such a state of shock by the gall of his words that she didn't have time to tell him to go screw himself before he disappeared down the hall and around the corner. She huffed an exasperated sigh and re-entered the Great Hall to find that the heavy mood had not lifted, though there were at least a few murmurs now.

Finally the eerie dinner ended. Hermione set off for the Gryffindor tower and waited a while until everyone returned from dinner. She did as McGonagall had instructed and although the students were not looking forward to it, they all reassured her that they knew that it wasn't her fault and that Professor Malfoy often goaded them on in the house rivalry. The first years which were the culprits of today's earlier events apologized and were greeted with cheers and congratulations for their hard work in defending Gryffindor's title, breaking an arm and landing some "wicked" jinxes. Hermione smiled and shook her head. This was Gryffindor house for you.

"Okay, okay…" Hermione interrupted the cheers and hi-fives, "I would like to ask that all of you try your best, even knowing that the Slytherins aren't likely to do the same."

There were scoffs and boos.

"I know, I know, but if I have to deal with Professor Malfoy, I ask that you guys be grateful for having it easy."

"You can do it, Professor Granger!" shouted Evan, a first year from the incident.

Everyone howled with laughter and encouragement.

Hermione laughed alongside, "Thanks everyone and I'm sure you lot can do it too."

"Yeah!" shouted Michelle, "Let's kill them with kindness! Let's show them what Gryffindors are made of!"

More hysterical laughter.

Before leaving to the prefect's meeting she was showered with reassurances that the best of behaviors would be used in handling all situations. She was thankful for that, but was sure that it was only a matter of time before that rowdy bunch ended up in another fight.

Hermione sent the prefects on patrol and was headed to McGonagall's office when she remembered something.

_Knock, knock, knock._

She was in a hall one over from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She was full well ready to go without the pompous jerk, but was all too aware that McGonagall would scold her again, this time for showing up without him. After all, this was the start of interhouse relations and as such, she was sure that having to pick up Draco from his room would be considered friendly. If only she could face him without being hostile for having to do it in the first place.

_Knock, knock, knock._

Even McGonagall would have to admit that this was ridiculous (of course she wouldn't) but honestly…

"Malfoy!," Hermione yelled at the door.

She shook the knob and the door fell open.

"Malfoy..?" she whispered now, seeing the empty room.

She crept around corners surprised by how cozy his room was. She'd always imagined spotless black leather sofas, green silk curtains and cold marble floors, but this looked like a cozy, old, reading room; rows and rows of books lining the walls, dark stained wood furnishing, a large brown armchair by the fire and a deep red love seat across from it, cream-colored carpet with blue, floral, throw rugs here and there. Indeed not what one would expect.

Hermione continued through the small room, down a hall, and knocked on a door that was most certainly the bedroom.

"Malfoy?"

She tried the knob and it too was unlocked. She poked her head into the small bedroom littered with parchments but he wasn't there. She huffed a sigh and stepped into the room. More books, a very lavish writing desk, and maybe one of the largest comforters she'd ever seen. She turned to leave and in the doorway stood Malfoy.

"What are you doing?" he didn't sound angry. More exasperated than anything, as he stepped past her and began picking up the loose parchment everywhere.

"I came here to get _you_, you prat." Hermione explained.

"I didn't really expect you to come and get me Granger, I was only teasing." He said nonchalantly as always. Hermione's cheeks burned a little as he continued. "Thanks to you I got an ear full. 'I asked for Granger and yourself to be here together did I not?'… sent me to off to retrieve you." He said, imitating McGonagall's voice to a tee.

Hermione laughed. "I knew that would happen, which is why I came here first."

He looked at her with an amused expression and stacked the pile of parchment on his writing desk.

"Yes well, shall we be on our way then?" He asked, escorting her all the way back to the front door with a hand on the small of her back like some olden day gentleman. Hermione didn't comment on it and neither of them spoke on the way to the headmasters office.

Upon entering, McGonagall stood and gestured for them to take a seat.

"I see you found miss Granger." She began and waited for them to be seated before sitting herself and continuing. "As you well know, tomorrow is our next Hogsmead trip. I would like the both of you to pare up your students. Gryffindor, Slytherin mix if you please. The two of you should put a roster together and by morning, I expect a copy. The heads of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are doing the same although we all here can admit that the problem lies in your houses. Any questions?"

Draco took the reins and asked the question that was on her mind as well.

"And how are we supposed to make sure they stay pared?" Draco asked. Hermione also knew it would be impossible to force them.

McGonagall looked them in face and answered. "There are plenty of charms, if not jinxes to insure that." was her flippant answer.

At that moment both Draco and Hermione realized how serious she really was. House hatred was one of, if not the biggest problem in Hogwarts but no one ever dreamed of really putting in the kind of time and effort it would take to stop it. But here today they knew, even if the students didn't, that they were being given no choice but to get along and McGonagall was willing to reinforce this even if it took all year.

They left her office and recommenced in Hermione's to set to work on this horrible task.

"How are we supposed to damn our students to this suffering for however long this will take. I feel like a monster and I'm sure that after this, _they'll _think me one as well?" Hermione felt heartbroken for them.

Draco shrugged. "True. Even I feel somewhat sorry for them. Imagine, had something like this happened in our years at Hogwarts…"

They both shivered at the thought.

"Well," Hermione began, desperately wanting to leave the horrors of that thought behind. "Shall we begin?"

Four very long hours later they had a roster.

They decided to go with boy, girl coupling to minimize the likely hood of fights. Then they tried to pare the stronger willed and the ill willed together. Then the weak and mild mannered together to minimize emotional damage. They worked harder on the 3rd through 5th years because they perhaps still had a chance of making friends, well more of a chance than the 6th and 7th years who were too set in their was.

The only problem they were facing now was the spawn of the devil if there ever was one, aptly named Damien. A 5th year 'boy' if you could even call the demon spawn remotely human.

"What should we do with _him_?" Hermione pointed at the parchment were the spot for a girls' name was empty.

Draco sighed. "No matter who we put him with it will be that persons worst Hogsmead experience yet. No doubt it will end in tears for the poor girl." he smiled a little.

"It's not funny Malfoy, that boy is a monster."

He cleared his throat and examined the paper closely. "How… about…her?" He pointed to the parchment.

Danielle Marcy.

Hermione sucked in a deep breath. "No!" She protested.

"Why not, she's… head strong. I'm sure she can deal with him." He said.

"Are you purposefully pawning him off on one of the brightest students In school just because your jealous that she's in Gryffindor?" Hermione demanded.

"That's ridiculous. She's the only girl in this school who could handle a boy like him." he sighed.

"He'll eat her alive." Hermione argued.

"Give her some credit Granger. You see how well she handles him during classes."

"Yes, but I also know about how she cries to her best friend in the Gryffindor tower later." Hermione seethed.

"As long as he doesn't see it, then we're fine."

Hermione looked flabbergasted.

Draco continued. "Look, it might toughen her up a bit and she ignores him and his jeering so well that he might figure it doesn't work and give up. If we're lucky they'll just sit on a bench and ignore each other. It's just for a day. No one is going to die. Besides, unless you think there is someone else who can stand a chance then we really don't have much of another choice."

Hermione thought it over. Danielle was one of her favorite students. How would she ever forgive Hermione for doing this to her. But he was right…

"Fine." She conceded.

She and Malfoy finished up the last minute changes and decided on a charm to use that no student could break, then headed to bed.

Tomorrow was sure to be one of the worst days in Hogwarts history and know one knew Hogwarts history better than Hermione.


	2. Aggressive men

**Sorry it took me so long. Well, read and review and I'll try to get the 3rd chapter up by next week. The truth is That I can't type to save my life, so although I had the chapter finished last week, it took me like, 6 days to type it. I know, it's really sad. **

**Aside from that. Ask me questions that you think should be answered if you come apon somthing you don't understand or something you want to be elaborated on because I was pretty much just trying to get some small details out of the way in this one.**

**Last but not least, I posted a new story called Sweet Nectar that has an experimental story line that i dont think anyones tried before. So if you get the time, check out the first chapter and tell me if you think it's crazy and stupid, or interesting I'd appreciate it. **

**If you dont like this chapter then as always, flames welcome! R&R**

* * *

Interhouse Relations

Chapter 2

Though it was rounding into winter at Hogwarts, today it was hot. Ungodly hot. A sign that today would be a day from hell. Or maybe just global warming… whatever it was, Draco stood between two boys just outside the castle, wondering how anyone could argue this hard in this kind of heat.

"You had better not lay a hand on my girlfriend."

"Oh please Flores, like I'd touch your sloppy seconds."

"You Slytherin scum, she's too good for you."

"Come off it, I'd never want a Gryffindor girl, as if they'd suffice."

All Draco could do was rub his temples. There's no way he could have been this childish when he was in school could he? Then he huffed a sigh realizing the sad truth to that question.

"I'm gunna rip your tongue out."

"Keep talking like that and I'll use this tongue on that complete train wreck of a girlfriend of yours out of spite. She'll never taste the same. Supposing you ever get to snog her again. After all, once she's had me, nothing will compare I'm sure."

Draco smirked. Yeah, he remembered the good old days…

"You son of a-" Tanner Flores yelled and Draco just barley caught the boys caller before he could jump on Damien.

Just then Hermione walk up panting, dragging behind her Danielle Marcy.

Draco looked at Hermione with a scowl.

"It's about time Granger, I've been holding off the coming of the third war over here," he said, is hold still on Tanner's shirt.

Hermione glared at him. "She's," Hermione began still trying to catch her breath. "really… fast," she panted.

Damien scoffed. "Apparently not fast enough."

Tanner broke free of Draco's hold and was about to punch the Slytherin boy square in the jaw when his fist was stopped mid punch by Danielle.

"Don't Tanner," she said holding back his forearm with both hands as tightly as she could. Tanner calmed himself with a few deep breathes.

Damien sighed loudly. "Could we get this over with already. How many times do I have to tell you Flores, I'm not interested in your little girlfriend, now if you don't mind, I'd like to get on with my life."

"Girlfriend?" Danielle asked looking confused.

Tanner turned a shade of red. Then answered. "I didn't want him thinking you were single, not that this guy has the decency to not touch another blokes girl," he finished shooting a pointed look at the other boy.

"To right you are Flores," Damien laughed.

Danielle smack Tanner in the back of the head. "Don't spread rumors like that. Besides, I can take care of myself. Now go and find your partner, and you had better be on your best behavior. I don't want you following me around. Understood?" she said firmly.

Tanner lowered his head and turned to leave as Hermione stood watching in wonder. This scene was vaguely familiar somehow…

She pulled out her wand. "Now the both of you lift up your arms."

They stood next to each other and put their arms up. Hermione could see the look of desperation in Danielle's eyes and even Damien's usually cold and collected features looked like he was about to (as he undoubtedly would someday) start a long sentence in Azkaban. Hermione couldn't do it.

"Malfoy," she began, "I just can't."

"Granger don't be so weak hearted," he sighed in annoyance, pulling out his wand and standing before the two students. He looked down at the looks on their faces and hesitated.

"Well?" Hermione asked.

Draco stood there a moment longer before answering. "Maybe it's not too late to late for them to trade partners."

Hermione laughed. "Weak hearted," she mimicked. He shot her a glare, but Danielle was beaming and Damien let out a breath he'd been holding. Then from behind them a yellow rope of light wrapped itself around the students wrists and faded invisible. They all stood there in shock as McGonagall approached and spoke.

"The roster is final professors. Perhaps you should have put more thought into it last night. As for today, it is decided that these two be partners. I believe it will be a good lesson for _all_ of you," and walked away without a backward glance.

The silence lingered until Hermione directed the students to a carriage so that she and Malfoy could put charms on the others. After the difficult were eventually pared, they proceeded to the carriages themselves. Draco moved aside and gestured for her to go first. As she walked past and approached the steps, she gasped as he took her waist and lifted her the short distance onto the carriage. Her heart was pounding. That scared her lifeless and when she turned to look at him he proceeded into the carriage as though nothing had just happened. Like treating her as though she were a lady wasn't a strange thing for him to do.

She didn't comment and both professors sat in silence awaiting departure.

"We really need to command more power," Hermione said, sitting slumped back in her seat.

"What do you mean?" Malfoy asked lying across from her.

"Well, maybe it's because we're in our early twenties that they sometimes think of us more as friends than teachers you know? We identify with them and they know that. Like how we could hardly stand having to pair them up like this," Hermione explained, pulling her hair up into a pony tail. Across from her Draco shrugged and began rolling up the sleeves of his charcoal gray dress shirt.

He sighed. "I don't know, but they better start listening to me. It's too bloody hot to be chasing children around Hogsmead all day."

Hermione agreed whole heartedly. The carriages began their decent into town and silence fell between the two.

She looked at Malfoy lying across from her with his hands behind his head with his eyes closed. He was still a sight to behold with his sculpted features but now his handsome looks were complemented by his quiet and stoic personality. Over the years after graduation, he'd learned to keep quiet. But he was sometimes too quiet. Up until last night at dinner, he hadn't really been as moody as he was when they were in school.

Most of the student really enjoyed his laid back teaching methods. Even though he made them work hard and gave them plenty of homework, apparently the in class discussions and his lesson plans really made them think. She'd heard from her advanced class that he made it easy to retain and from her Gryffindors, that even though he favored the Slytherins, they were all getting better marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts than they ever had as long as they did the work, which they also told her, was always interesting.

She believed that it was because he, himself had become an interesting person. It was a strange word to associate with Malfoy, but she kind of thought of him as an eccentric now. He always seemed far away. Not lost in thought or anything, no, there was never a furrow in his brow. More like he was always calm and at peace. You never knew what was going on with him. Even now, the carriage shaking and rocking, he lay motionless. He just stared upward. Bored almost.

His eyes slowly met hers and she realized she'd been staring. She couldn't look away even though she was dying of embarrassment inside.

"Yes?" he asked casually.

Hermione blinked and searched her head for something to say.

"Why are you here…?" is what rudely spewed from her mouth but only after asking it did she realize that she purely wanted to know.

"Why…? Hmm, why am I here?" He repeated thoughtfully, contemplating the meaning of her question. "Well I'd have to say that it is because I'm bored," he finished, looking back up to the sky.

She waited for him to elaborate but as was expected, he didn't.

So she pried. "Bored how?" she inquired.

He sat up, ran a hand trough his hair and looked at her with a friendly smirk.

"Interested?" he asked.

"Obviously," Hermione sighed shooting him a glare.

He sighed. "Bored enough to become a teacher though I hate kids. Bored enough to not mind all that much as long as I have something to do all day. Thoroughly grading papers, making lesson plans and setting impossible essays are as close to fun as I'm capable of having. Well that and sending a boat load of angry student to your class every Friday, then getting to see the look on your face as I sit next to you during dinner. Yeah, that's pretty much why I'm here." He said with a smile pulling at his lips.

Hermione found herself smiling too. Of course she was upset about that last part, but for some reason, in hindsight, she too enjoyed the childlike bantering between then and it was, sadly to say, some of the best part of her job. Reminiscent of their time at Hogwarts, and to be honest, if Malfoy didn't work here she'd have absolutely no one to talk to (if the arguing counted as small talk,) and it would be quite boring.

"So" she began, "Besides torturing students who, by the way like you and being an insufferable jerk to me, you've got nothing better to do?"

"Granger," He slumped back in his seat and yawned. "I'm a rich bachelor, head of the Malfoy's in a world where my name, even after my father's follies, still holds a lot of power. I have but to ask and there will be people ready to give their lives to make sure I have what I want." he said nonchalantly. "Yes I'm bored. Yes, there are probably better things I could be doing and yes, seeing _you_ at dinner every night is still the highlight of my day to day life. That's why I'm at Hogwarts, where no one's falling all over themselves to make me happy." He mindlessly named off the list.

He wasn't being smug or flashy and Hermione's heart ached when she realized it. The way he talked about his status now was like it had been told to him many times before. Pounded into his head until he didn't want to hear it any more.

Malfoy looked out the at the tree's going by.

"How about you Granger? You were working in the Magical Mysteries department up until last year right? Why the change?" he asked.

Hermione was taken aback. She looked up to see him looking like he always did. No clue to if he were just asking to change the subject or if he were genuinely curious.

"Interested?" She asked him.

He smiled but did not look away from the passing scenery.

She laughed. "Let's see…" Hermione thought this question over. There were a lot of reasons she quit at the ministry. "It was chaos I suppose. I felt like I was the only one doing my job. Apparently other people felt the same, so they started pawning off their work on me. It got to the point that I was falling asleep at work from lack of rest at home. Then my supervisor had the nerve to write me up for it when I was the one doing half his work." Hermione fumed. "Anyway, McGonagall owled me for the position here and I put in my two weeks' notice the same day. They lightened my work load, increased my pay, even promoted me. When that didn't work my supervisor even begged. Well, I will say that the last two weeks were the best I'd spent in that place." she smiled, "I know it's vindictive, but I hope that place has gone to shit without me."

She looked up to see Malfoy staring. She felt a blush rise as he smiled and then let out a chuckle.

"I'm sure it has." he said with an amused face. Hermione smiled sheepishly.

The carriage stopped and the noise of students shouting and arguing, reminded them of the task at hand. Malfoy jumped down from the carriage and extended a hand to her. She stared at it for a second before putting her hand in his. She stepped down from the carriage and snatched her hand back from him in what she hoped was not a noticeably hasty manner, but as they walked toward the group, she heard him laugh under his breath.

He knew his chivalry unnerved her and he enjoyed it. She turned and shot him a glare. He shrugged with a straight face. As she turned and walked away, she couldn't help but smile.

There was a short speech about conduct from McGonagall before the students were sent on their way. She then turned to the teachers and began. "Don't bother running back and forth to stop them from rowing, that's inevitable and we'd all be out of breath in the first hour. I don't want you to run to their aid every time they start bickering because if you settle their battles we'll just be hindering them from settling disputes on their own. And if we agree with one, we'll be choosing sides. If they don't learn to stand a fight and get past it, they'll never get to know each other. So choose your battles wisely professors, if you jump in to settle a dispute, you may be pushing them further apart. So unless you see blood about to be spilled, even if they're your favorite student, or you think they can't take care of themselves, just watch closely."

After that, the professors departed. Just as Draco and Hermione started down the path into Hogsmead, McGonagall called from behind them. "Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger, if you please." When they stopped, a golden rope wrapped itself around Hermione's right and Draco's left wrists, then faded away. "This should be a lesson for the both of you as well." She said as she walked past.

Hermione looked up at Draco and he just shrugged.

Maybe about an hour ago this may have bothered the both of them. but after the ride in the carriage, things between them were looking up. Hermione smiled, maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.

They walked into town and saw that most of the students were just trying desperately to ignore the situation by saying and doing nothing. Walking in silence or just standing still. Then it started.

"Let's go this way, I want a drink," They heard a girl say.

She was answered with a "I guess you're going to stay thirsty 'cause I'm not moving from this spot until this trip is over."

"You overbearing brute, you Gryffindors think you can just do what you want. Well I'm getting a drink," The girl began to walk away, tugging the boy along on an invisible string, until he stood his ground and she couldn't go any further.

"Hurry up you jerk," She yelled.

"You Slytherins are the ones always forcing your way down everyone's throats. Guess what girly, you ain't move'n me."

"Jensen, you'll move, whether you like it or not."

"Go ahead Davis, give it your all," And she did, right between his legs. He fell to the floor and the girl proceeded to drag his dead weight toward The Three Broomsticks.

Draco looked down at Hermione, "Suppose we should have done something about that one?"

Hermione was still in shock as she answered, "Well, I guess it worked itself out with only a small amount of violence."

From there, Draco watched as students tugged in opposite directions, stood around or sat on benches for hours ignoring each other, walked through the streets yelling at the top of their lungs and quite a few people who had teamed up together to figure out how to break the link between them. So far they'd stopped half a dozen fights. Most of them between passing boys chained to girls or, surprisingly from Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw pairs since their Heads hadn't pair boy-girl, there were plenty of cat fights and fist fights along the way. But all and all, Draco and Hermione weren't having a bad time. They ignored the pleading looks their students shot them and didn't bother with stopping most of their quarrels. Even the ones that looked more serious eventually worked out. Thank Merlin that they'd put in some effort with their roster. (The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws weren't as lucky).

Either way, the professors were having casual conversation and were definitely setting a good example.

Finally, they hit the last hour. The sun was setting and the two professors just emerged from The Three Broomsticks after having a few drinks.

"So," Hermione began as their last conversation finished. "Why doesn't a rich bored bachelor like yourself try going overseas or just traveling to escape for a while?"

Draco thought this over. "It doesn't matter where I go in the wizarding world. Because my father often traveled, as soon as I introduce myself as the only heir to the Malfoy fortune, people change." He said. "How about you?" He asked.

"No" Hermione laughed, "I don't usually have any problems with having to try and stop people from wanting to wait on me day and night."

"Shut up," he smiled. "I meant traveling."

"Yeah right." Hermione scoffed.

"What do you mean 'yeah right'?" He asked seriously.

"Not everyone has the money to up and ditch the country if they want to, you know?" She said.

"Oh, do forgive me. Where are my manners? Here I am complaining about being rich and famous," He laughed. "I suppose this is one of those, 'you should be grateful' things, isn't it?"

Hermione scowled, "Yes, it is. Even if you don't use it, you're still lucky to have money; money that you didn't even have to lift a finger for."

"Hmm...I see. Maybe you're right." He sighed.

"Maybe?" She countered.

Draco felt an argument coming on and if it was about how he should be happy with his riches that he never had to work for, he'd gotten enough of that from plenty of other people. So he, as he was good at, abruptly changed the subject. "Where would you go?" He asked.

Hermione was thrown off for a second "Go?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah, if you could travel anywhere."

"Um, let's see." She thought. "I've always wanted to go to Japan."

"Japan?" Draco laughed. "I always pegged you for a romantic. That you'd say something like Greece, Rome, Italy or Brazil, but Japan."

Hermione thought it over. "Well Yeah, those places sound great, but I want a total culture shock. China, India or even Russia. But I've always wanted to go to Japan and see not only the wizarding world there, but to live in the muggle one too. Be an English teacher in their schools or something, you know?" Hermione was excited just thinking about it.

"I guess." Malfoy began. "That does sound like a great escape, I'm rubbish with language barriers though, so I guess I'd go to America if I were to travel."

Hermione sighed, "How boring. I thought you were trying to escape boredom?"

"No, just find a different kind of boredom. So it's not too boring."

Hermione laughed until they heard a girl scream. "Stop it!" They looked at each other and took off toward the sound. They came to an alleyway in an unlit corner of town. Danielle was pushed against the wall, held tight by the wrists, with Damien looming over her.

"You bastard." Danielle spat, as Damien kissed down her neck. "Don't," she said weakly.

Hermione's face flushed. She opened her mouth to put an end to this intimate scene, when Draco covered it with a hand and pulled her out of sight and against the wall. He had her back pulled against him as he leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Let's leave them."

Hermione was outraged at the thought. But she was also flustered, so when he began pulling her away from the alley she didn't register it until they were a good ways away. The sun had completely set and the moon was the only light on this side of town.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Malfoy?" she said, pulling him to a stop.

"McGonagall told us to let them handle their own problems, didn't she?" he said.

"What? A student being sexually harassed like that didn't look like something we should interfere in to you?" she said, incredulously.

"It wasn't sexual harassment," He stated, matter of fact.

"What do you mean? She was telling him to stop!" Hermione yelled.

"Yeah, but that's not what she wanted, of course," He rolled his eyes.

Hermione was shocked. "I can't believe this. So her struggling and crying for him to stop appeared to you as though she were enjoying it?" Hermione clarified.

"Are you blind, Granger, it was obvious. She wasn't crying, she was whimpering and there's quite the difference," He said.

There was no way anyone could possibly believe that. "I'm going back," she said and walked a few steps before coming to a sudden stop as her arm was jerked back.

"Malfoy, what if he rapes her?" Hermione sounded urgent.

Malfoy laughed. "She'll be fine."

"But she didn't want it."

"Just because she was saying that-"

"He was man handling her!"

"Some girls like that," He laughed again. "Apparently you haven't experienced someone to exert power over you."

"Who on earth would want-"

The next thing she knew she was slammed against the wall. Her heart sank into her stomach.

Draco held her shoulders so tight that it hurt. She put her hands against his hard chest and tried to push him back but he was solid. "What are you doing?" She said, panic stuck in her throat. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "showing you," He slowly pulled the hair tie out of her hair and then ran his hands through it.

Hermione's heart was pounding so hard that it boomed in her ears, which Draco grazed with his teeth. Hermione's face burned.

"S-stop" She...whimpered? Oh God, she thought, as a shiver went down her spine.

"You don't want that." He whispered against her neck before licking it.

Of course she wanted him to stop. Just because she- He pulled away from her neck and looked down at her with an expression she'd never seen before, in anyone. Then he let his forehead rest on hers as one of his hands released her and traveled down her side. His lips got closer to hers; that's when her legs gave out. She almost fell to the ground, but Draco caught her.

"Granger?" He asked, concerned. "You alright?"

She looked up at his worried expression and her face burned. She pushed away from him hard.

"Let go, it's time to get back to the castle," She said and he followed as she briskly walked.

"Come on Granger," Draco laughed, "I was-"

Hermione turned around, glared for just a second before continuing to walk. She could barely look at him. She was disgusted with herself. Why couldn't she tell him to stop. She'd wanted him to stop.

They reached a carriage and Draco didn't help her in this time. They sat in silence on the ride back to the castle. Finally, with an amused smile at the both of them, McGonagall undid the spell and Hermione took off at the speed of light. She helped the other professors unbind the students then made for the castle.

As she reached the stairwell, Malfoy was there, waiting for her. She felt panic rise in her again.

He didn't say anything as she walked passed him. He just followed quietly behind her. This was probably fun to him, she thought. He was probably having a great time, filling his void of boredom.

"Granger," He finally said, in annoyance. She kept walking.

He grabbed her wrist and she felt a wave of...of. What the hell was the strange feeling that just rose in her, hoping he was going to force his lips on hers and take her on the stairwell. When did she become such a pervert? She snatched her arm away, her face red. "Don't, touch me." She said firmly.

The look of anger that rose on his face took her by surprise.

"You're an idiot," He said before heading back down the stairs.

Hermione fumed the rest of the way to her room. How dare he. How could she be the idiot here?

She didn't bother going to dinner. She knew he'd be 'waiting to see the look on her face.' Instead she took a shower to wash him off of her. Then she fell into bed and read a book until she fell asleep.

She didn't know how much later it was but it was still dark out, when there was a knock on her door. She sleepily rushed to open it. She cracked the door to see Malfoy. She tried to shut the door but he pushed it open and forced his way in.

"You weren't at dinner," He said conversationally, like he hadn't just rudely forced his way into her room.

"I wasn't hungry, now get out," She said.

He didn't bother answering, instead he took a seat on her couch.

"Granger..." He started. "I'm sorry."

Hermione just about almost blacked out for a second. She walked over to the couch and looked down at him. He stood up and towered over her.

"I," he started, then laughed lightly. "I couldn't resist. I can't resist," He said and crushed his lips to hers.


	3. Black vs White

**Again with the long wait. Typing sucks. The whole sex scene got erased the first time I wrote it and i got lazy the second time around so it's not as juicy as it was before but you cant miss what you never read. as for me, i miss it very much...Thank you to everyone who favorited and reviewed. I have a few things to say about this chapter...**

**1) If Malfoy is a bit OOC here, he has his reasons and it is hinted at in his point of view in the end of the chapter.**

**2) I hope that the quidditch game explanation is understandable, if not then let me know.**

**3) Writing quidditch games is a lot harder than i thought so if you don't care about the specifics then let me know so i dont have to bust a gut trying to do it in later chapters. but if you enjoy this one I wont mind writing more.**

**4)Flames welcome and if you have questions or suggestions about story line or minor changes, I'm always happy to hear it.**

**5)Read & REVIEW.**

* * *

Inter House Relation

Chapter 3

Hermione let her eyes close and she fell into the kiss until his tongue, probing for entrance, broke her from her reverie. She pulled away from him as a panic rose in her.

"Stop," she said in a whisper. Why wasn't her voice working?

She pressed her hands against his hard chest but his hold was solid and this fact made her body ache for him. But this was wrong. Disgust twisted in the pit of her belly. She had to tell him to stop, to tell him she didn't want this. He held her against him and kissed her, making sure she wouldn't escape again.

Hermione's body was a damn dirty traitor. She had to stop him but instead she was kissing him back, completely taken by his strength. She was so ashamed of herself for finding his force unbearably attractive. That's right, he was forcing himself on her. Her head was spinning and it took all her might but she pulled herself away from him, then ducked out of his arms.

She took a step back from him and it was like he had some kind of pull on her because her body resisted every step away from him that she took. His eyes were dilated like an animal ready to pounce and it made her want to jump into his arms.

She forced herself to turn away from him, hoping it would be easier to resist without the visuals. He grabbed her arm and spun her back around to face him.

"Let go," she said weakly and fumed at the way she sounded. She knew that to him it was like she'd just begged for more. And he obliged with a trail of kisses down her neck.

"This is…" she huffed, her breath being taken away.

He walked her backward until she was lying down across the couch, then he held himself above her and between her legs.

"This is what?" he asked as he fastened her wrists in one of his hands above her head before kissing her collar bone. His voice was deep and husky. Then he let his other hand trail from her breast, down her side and to the elastic of her pajama pants.

Hermione felt a real panic rise in her. And she didn't dare answer him now that she felt a stiffness pressed against her, lest her words betray again. This had gone too far. It wasn't fun and it wasn't what she wanted. She summoned all her strength and opened her mouth knowing that this time her voice wouldn't betray her.

"This is rape." She said in voice that would have sounded almost like a plea if not for the fact that it had completely sounded like a whimper. How could she have been so wrong.

Malfoy stopped kissing her stomach just long enough to look into her eyes with a smile before he pulled her pants down and began kissing her lower sending waves of pleasure through her body. She cried out and was shocked at how breathy her voice was.

Her heart was pounding and fear overwhelmed her. She pulled her arms free and tried to push him away but her hands were pinned to her sides in only seconds. She wriggled and it became a vicious cycle as her struggle only made him more excited and the more excited he was the more she squirmed. She was going to give him what he wanted and she couldn't stop it.

"This is rape," she whispered to herself.

He looked up at her from between her legs before coming up and kissing her lips while he let his hand take the place of where his mouth had been.

Heat built up in her unexpectedly and then as if he were granting her some sort of mercy, he released his hold on her. She fisted his hair and pulled him to her, suddenly afraid that he would stop. Not wanting him to leave her like this, she arched into his kiss and pulled his body as close as she possibly could to him as she released on his fingers.

Hermione lay still trying to catch her breath, in complete shock at her own behavior. She looked up to see Malfoy's smirking face as he spoke.

"It's not rape if you want it Granger."

And she had wanted it. He had let her go in the last moment just so she could prove his point. He was vindicated by her ultimate surrender when she thought that he would stop ravishing her.

Hermione wanted to cry for all her shame, but she wasn't shamed, she was satisfied. She looked up at his smiling face before she…woke up.

Hermione could feel moist heat between her legs and was disgusted with herself. She had barely ever fantasized about a man, let alone have a sex dream. What was becoming of her? She wasn't even upset about the content of the dream so much as who the dream had been about.

Of course she couldn't have picked a better guy to star in a sex dream than Malfoy, no, it was just that she knew the person in general that was upsetting. She didn't appreciate having a sex dream about anyone she knew personally. Not even Ron and they'd dated for the better part of her sex life. She was all too sure that this sort of thing would complicate any relationship she had with any male, friend or not. Why couldn't it have been some nameless male model or something?

She looked over at her clock on the bedside table and hopped out of bed. She was late for breakfast and desperately needed food after skipping dinner last night. There was a Quidditch game today and she needed her strength if she was going to sit though the long event. She rushed through her routine and made it to breakfast with only five minutes to spare.

She stopped in the doorway to the staff table seeing Malfoy sitting beside her empty seat.

She took a deep breath and, determined to eat some breakfast, she walked in and sat in her seat. She would just ignore him and everything would be fine.

"Mornin' 'ermoione," Hagrid said as he walked passed on his way down the table.

"Good morning Hagrid," Hermione smiled up at him. Then from beside her Malfoy spoke.

"Good morning Granger," he said with his simple nonchalance.

Hermione looked up at him and immediately turned away feeling her face grow hot. She cleared her throat and commenced with ignoring him.

She reached for the potatoes and before she could get her fingers on the bowl, Draco picked it up and spooned some onto her plate. She was going to give him an awkward thank you but she remember she wasn't speaking to him, so instead she went for the bacon. He picked up the tray and set two strips on the plate as well. She withdrew her hands and placed them in her lap.

Draco sat facing her in his chair with his elbow on the table and his chin rested in his hand. She felt him looking so she stared out across the hall.

"You weren't at dinner," he said, using his free hand to place a biscuit on her plate.

Hermione's cheeks went red as she thought about the déjà vu she was experiencing. He scooped some eggs onto her plate as she answered.

"I wasn't hungry," She mumbled, her face hot from thinking of the pictures of what came next running through her mind. He reached passed for the syrup and poured a drizzle over her eggs.

"Glad to see you made it to breakfast," he said, setting a piece of toast on a small plate beside her potatoes. Then he spooned some strawberry jam onto it.

Finally she looked down at her plate when he picked up her spoon. He hollowed out the middle of her potatoes and poured a bit of gravy in it. She looked up at him in shock.

"Don't look so surprised. You put the same thing on your plate, in the same order, every day." He smiled and she looked away as the memories of last night's dream hit her with full force.

He huffed a sigh. "Can't even look at me, Still mad I suppose, so I'll let you eat in peace." he said, sounding disappointed as he got up from the table and went out the staff door.

After he was gone, Hermione let out a breath of relief. Better for him to think she was still mad, than for him to know the truth. She was about to begin eating when she noticed the silence. She looked up to see all eyes on her. They'd all been watching him load up her plate, and down the staff table McGonagall sent her a bemused look. She cleared her throat and grabbed a banana and not the usual muffin she would have picked up to complete her routine, before exiting the Great Hall. As she was closing the door she could hear conversation burst from the students.

Hermione sat in the bleachers holding her breath. The wind was cold and the strong breezes today were threatening to send her flying a long way down to the ground. Now this was winter weather. She'd taken a seat in the far back of the professors booth to minimize the cheers and shouts from ringing in her ears due to the more excited bit of the staff. (i.e. Hagrid) The game was about to start and Hermione was already ready for it to be done. McGonagall enforced the rule that all teachers attend the Quidditch matches. She said that she felt more students would show school spirit if the teachers did as well, even when their house team wasn't playing.

To be honest Hermione completely disagreed. Those who loved Quidditch would be here whether it was their team or not, to keep up on the scores and those who didn't like it and had better things to do on the weekend would continue doing those better things. Hermione too had better things to be doing, such as grading papers and her presence at the game wasn't making her students run to watch it along with her. Rather it was making it impossible for her to find time to grade on weekends like this. Of course it was rare that a Hogsmead trip and Quidditch game fell on the same weekend but it happened now and again and it was probably inconvenient for not only professors, but students as well. Either way she was stuck.

Hermione breathed into her gloves to warm her hands a bit. Now that she thought about it, it seemed that McGonagall had been doing a lot of things differently since the beginning of this year to get everyone to come together. For instance, she combined all four houses in any advanced classes, such as Hermione's advance History of Magic, and she could definitely see the positive effects of that. But she didn't know if when her students left her class they went back to ignoring each other in the halls, or if the other advanced classes even worked as well together as hers did for that matter. But Hermione did know one thing, she understood McGonagall.

If there were one thing that the great Albus Dumbledore should have done for Hogwarts, it was what McGonagall was bravely attempting now. Hermione also understood that it would have been hard to get the parents to see the importance of these changes, (namely Slytherins). She also now saw that McGonagall had slipped it into their lives and waited for an opportune moment (the fight in Hermione's Class) to enforce new rules of understanding between houses, without nay say of how necessary it was, from parents. The headmistress was right in her choice to make a change and as Hermione watched the Slytherin and Hufflepuff teams take their positions on the field, she felt better about being out here supporting not only school spirit, but also McGonagall's judgment.

Hooch blew the Whistle and Tanner Flores yelled out to the crowed, "And their off!"

Hermione watched the blurs of yellow and green whiz past tossing a red blob between them. The brooms got faster and faster every year. She was thinking about what Ron and Harry's comments on the ever evolving models of racing brooms would be, when she felt a body sit beside her.

"Just in time." Malfoy laughed as she looked over at him.

He wasn't just sitting close, he was practically sitting on her lap for all she was concerned, and seeing as to how they were the only ones on the back bench, she thought it particularly unnecessary. Which she was about to explain, but as she looked up at his smiling face only inches from her own, she had another image of the horrors which took place on the Hogsmead trip and it sent a wave of nausea through her body. Okay, okay, it wasn't really a wave of nausea but she wasn't ready to face those facts. She closed her mouth and tried to give her undivided attention to the game.

"HE BLOCKED IT! That slimy Slytherin blocked it!" Tanner yelled referring to the Slytherin teams keeper, Damien Scott.

McGonagall tapped his shoulder with a rolled up piece of parchment she held and Hermione laughed remembering the years of Lee Jordan's colorful commentating.

Beside her she felt Malfoy move and looked up at him. He was staring at her and a blush rose to her cheeks as he continued to stare even after being caught. Had he no shame? She turned away but could still feel his gaze lingering.

The crowd cheered loudly and Hermione went back to listening in on the game.

Tanner sighed, and in an exasperated voice said, "Slytherin scores, woo hoo…"

This time Hermione held back her smile, all too aware of the eyes on her. What the heck was wrong with him? Yes, she had classified him as an eccentric, but this was just weird.

"You don't have to hold yourself back, on account of me," he whispered in her ear. His warm breath near enough to her cold ear that he could- her mind went back to being pushed up against the wall- bite it.

Her face went pink as Hermione jumped up from her seat and looked down at him with a smirk on his lips, the face he'd had as he looked up at her from between her legs. Her stomach did a summersault. No, what was she doing? She walked a few steps to the side and sat back on the bench, only a foot down from him. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as he sat back, sighed and looked out on the game with his usual bored expression. He looked deflated. Well good.

She went back to the game.

"Hufflepuff scores! That's what I'm talkin' about. Take that Scott!" Tanner yelled.

To the crowds enjoyment Damien threw up a rude hand gesture before tossing the quaffle to a ready teammate.

"You wish buddy!" Tanner yelled choosing his words wisely as McGonagall loomed over him. The crowed broke out into hysterics and Hermione was contented with watching this game to the end if this kept up.

Half an hour and plenty of laughs later, the sun was finally shining from behind the clouds and sending a warm light to fight the still freezing winds. Both teams were tied and there had been one near catch of the snitch by Slytherin seeker Tiffany Davis, before a bludger knocked her off course and almost out. Hermione gasped closing her eyes and turned her face away as a beater sent a bludger whizzing toward one of the Hufflepuff chasers.

"OH! Jonas is hit in the shoulder by a bludger sent his way courtesy of Sanders and drops the quaffle! Stevens picks it up and heads up the pitch. AH! There's a quick tackle from Peters. He brings it up from below and… No! looks like Scott's too quick for Peters' arm. Let's all give Scott a round of applause for finally catching one. Don't be shy, let's hear it for Scott."

The crowd began to clap and cheer and then before anyone noticed what was happening Damien had flown his broom over to Tanner and jumped off onto the table Tanner sat behind. Tanner looked up straight into his eyes with a wide smile before standing from his chair and flipping Damien off. Damien threw the quaffle full keepers arm speed at Tanner's head and just as quick, Tanner caught it. McGonagall pulled Tanner back then stood between the two and spoke to them sternly, but without the spell to amplify her voice everyone was left wondering what was going on.

Hermione watched in shock as the scene played out. McGonagall sent Damien off. He got back on his broom, landed on the pitch and disappeared into the Slytherin team tent. Then McGonagall lectured Tanner and he took his seat back at the announcers table. McGonagall took the quaffle from his hands and left the stands before Tanner spoke again, "All right folks, the game will recommence in just a short moment. Professor McGonagall asks that all players, on both teams land and meet in the Slytherin tent for a short meeting."

There was a chorus of boos and hisses as the teams landed their brooms, looking confused and headed for the same tent. Hermione smiled wishing Ron and Harry were here to enjoy this. She wasn't even a Quidditch fan and she was entertained.

The sun was beginning to really heat things up to a comfortable temperature and as Hermione removed her gloves and unwrapped her scarf she notice Malfoy out of the corner of her eye, sitting back long ways across the bench with one leg pulled up and the other on the bench below. His arms were behind his head and his brown blazer jacket was unbuttoned with the sleeves pulled up. His black and white striped dress shirt was buttoned low and Hermione could see a silver coin, it looked like, on a black leather rope, resting against his collar bone. His eyes were closed and she wondered if, even with all this noise, he could sleep.

Before she knew it she was sitting in front of him watching him, kind of like a…love struck teen. She turned away from him as she took note of her actions. She needed to just talk to him like nothing happened so she could hurry up and realize that in truth, nothing really had happened. It was a dream that had her acting like an idiot, and what happened in Hogsmead wasn't much to be mad over, especially because they had been really connecting before his stupid joke and nothing bad had come of Danielle.

That's right, this was about the students not her. She and Malfoy needed to get along and get on the same page so that things like what happened between Danielle and Damien could be handled with cooperation. Their methods needed to synchronize in order to get through this year because no doubt, with the way McGonagall was cracking down on them, there would be plenty more of them working together. His morals were out of whack, but he wasn't the prat she'd known throughout school. Well not completely anyway. Still, she could work with him if she tried. He wasn't a bad guy, and that much she was sure of.

Hermione turned back to Malfoy and noticed that the silver coin around his neck looked familiar. She moved closer to look at it and then laughed aloud. It was a quarter with a hole punched through its top. She couldn't explain why but the thought of him owning anything muggle was hilarious. Then on top of that it was an American currency to boot. It was all around just too funny. She wondered if he knew what he was wearing or if he'd just gone into a shop and thought it was cool.

"I'll take it, you've forgiven me then," he said his eyes still closed and a smile on his face. Then looking up at her he asked. "What's got you so happy all of sudden anyway?"

She pulled away from him in shock and sat catching her breath with her hand clutched over her heart. That had scared her lifeless. He sat up and laughed.

"That'd teach you to respect people's personal space," he said jokingly.

Hermione turned on him with a glare. "You, talking about personal space? With the way you acted at breakfast and then came up here and practically sat on top of me?" she said in disbelief.

"I gave you your space this morning remember? And as for sitting on top of you, I did no such thing." he said sounding offended.

Hermione was about to yell at him but then he smirked and she felt silly for falling for his stupid tricks. She turned away from him and sighed.

"I suppose," she began, "that you're forgiven for the time being."

"I see," he said, "already planning for the next time?"

"There undoubtedly will be, with your ghastly sense of humor." she replied annoyed.

"Well perhaps if you didn't make getting you angry so appealing. Did you ever think of that. That maybe if you stopped losing your temper and had a bit more patience, that I'd stop bothering you so much." he asked while closing his eyes and stretching his arms over his head.

"How rude. How can you make it my fault? Why should I change myself for you, besides, I don't care how stoic you've made yourself out to be nowadays, I'd like to see you have some patience if you had to deal with yourself," she countered watching as his shirt lifted enough for her to see his abdomen. Her thoughts began to wander into the taboo again until the sound of his voice reminded her to look away before she got caught.

"I'm pretty sure I can handle a bit of immaturity, after all I handle you pretty well," he yawned.

Hermione looked at him wide eyed and before she could retort he continued, "See you're about to do it right now Granger." She closed her mouth and blushed. "Ah, now this moment is perfect. You've forgiven me and I can enjoy talking to you again. I'd really begun to worry when you couldn't even look at me without turning red in the face. But finally the best part of my day has returned to me after its short leave of absence."

Hermione's cheeks glowed realizing he'd noticed and mistaken her embarrassment for anger. Then she realized that he'd also referred to her as the best part of his day and she felt a giddy bit of excitement rise in her. She shook herself back to reality. He'd said that before and he didn't mean it like that and she knew it.

She wasn't making sense to herself right now and this teenage hormonal imbalance thing was disgusting. She never had it when she was a teen and she wasn't about to have it in her twenties either. Especially over an obvious misplaced bit of lust because of some dumb joke.

Luckily Tanner shouted out to the crowd again saving her from having to continue the conversation.

"Okay, so there will be a strange change to the teams so listen close because this might get confusing," he began, holding a piece of parchment in his hands and looking at it with a frown, "Following along with the new inter house relations act, McGonagall has reordered the teams by mixing players from both teams into two teams of mixed players… uh hold on, let me get this straight."

There were murmurs from the crowed as Tanner deliberated with McGonagall, who was now back in the stands. Hermione looked over at Malfoy and even he looked interested. She might even call the look on his face amused.

"Okay, okay," Tanner continued and the stands quieted. " The teams will be known as black team and white team. Black team is as follows…" Tanner racked off names of both Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Then he did the same for White team.

Tanner finished listing off the names and turned the parchment over to continue.

"Black and white team really represent the two house teams, but we don't know which is which. So each team needs to work with their new members to score as many points as they can and at the end of the game Professor McGonagall will tell us which team is really Hufflepuff and Slytherin. For example Black team may really represent Slytherin but the players from Hufflepuff don't know that for sure so they have to work hard and earn points in hopes that its really their team." Tanner set the parchment down. And shook his head. " I'd like to take this moment to sincerely apologize to the Hufflepuff team for causing this to happen to you." There was an eruption of boo's.

Hermione looked over at Malfoy who had a huge grin on his face.

"Why do you look so happy?" Hermione asked.

"Why not look happy? Messing with the students and their quidditch is like a slap in the face for them," He said.

Hermione looked at him confused. "I don't get it."

Malfoy rolled his eyes at her. "To mess with the school sport is to tell them that there will be no escape from this whole house relations mess. She's crossing the line. They are going to understand that she's serious and that the sooner they get used to it the better off they'll be," He explained.

Hermione only understood because she remembered what it had been like for Harry and Ron when a Quidditch game was canceled. As for herself, she couldn't see the big deal.

The new teams entered the field. Their robes were spelled to be either black or white and the score board was wiped clean. Madam Hooch threw the quaffle in the air and the game began.

Now Hermione was no expert on Quidditch, but this display was definitely not it. In fact Hermione didn't even know if this was considered a sport. They were flying around trying not to pass to people who were now on their teams and only tackling people who were not their friends on the opposite team. This was just sad. So far only black team had managed to score and that's only because the keeper on the white team was a Hufflepuff and didn't block his friend's shot. They were flying around in discord not passing or shooting the ball.

Hermione looked up when she heard Malfoy snickering. Where as she could barely watch this atrocity, he was on the verge of busting a gut.

"You know Malfoy," Hermione said, watching him try to hold in his outburst and failing, "You are really quite a strange person.

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he spoke. "I'm just imagining this happening during our years and the look on Potter and Weasley's faces."

Hermione could admit that that would be funny but, "What about you Malfoy? What would you have done?"

He stopped laughing just long enough to consider before chuckling again as he answered.

"I'd be pissed. But I'd still at least try. Just look at them out there. It's like they've never played a game of Quidditch in their lives. It's so sad, that it's beyond funny." He said through his laughter.

"So you would really still try to win, even if it meant tackling one of your friends?" Hermione asked knowing that Ron and Harry would probably rather throw the game than play under these conditions.

"Of course Granger. It's a game and I'd just want to play it. It's not like I'm being an ass for tackling a mate. Besides every one of them should get used to their friends being an opponent. If they want to go professional one day, they'll be going against people they once played alongside. If anything I'd use it as an advantage, knowing all your enemies moves. Then it would make things interesting" he said still watching the game.

Hermione admired that way of thinking about it.

"Time out called by Scott on the black team!" Tanner announced.

The crowd got rowdy as the teams landed and Hermione noticed that the people in the stands had almost doubled since the teams had been changed by the headmistress. People must have run off to tell their friends of the development. She even saw a lot of Gryffindors in the crowd and they usually only attended to cheer their own team.

"The inter house thing is working," Hermione said noticing that some students were even watching from the ground level, sitting on blankets with friends.

"Yeah, you never get this kind of turn out," he agreed.

Draco turned to Hermione watching as she was surveying the student turn out, and his curiosity peeked. Not for any particular reason but he wanted to ask her a question.

"Granger?" he started.

She turned to him with her always inquisitive look. Maybe he shouldn't say what he was about to say. Perhaps he should put more thought into the words he used. But he had never stopped to really consider his words before he said them and things had been turning out pretty well in his post war life so far, so why start now.

"Do you think that you might consider me a good part of your day?" he asked. It wasn't as though he'd really been as interested in the answer as he was in the reaction.

And although she answered with a simple "I suppose," her pink cheeks and her aversion of the eyes spoke volumes. Then for the same reasons he asked another random question.

"So would you like to spend more of your day with me? Like maybe a trip to the three broomsticks on our own time?" he held back a smile when her eyes widened and then she tried to cover her shock with nonchalance.

"Maybe if we found time. It would be good to discuss the progress of our students in their inter house relations." she covered.

"Time, like maybe tonight, for dinner?" he asked watching her look uncomfortable in her seat.

"Sure, that sounds fine," She answered without a moments deliberation. He smiled. Perhaps McGonagall had been right when they'd had that talk last week. All he needed to do was try. He knew Hermione had just as many papers to be grading as he did tonight, but instead she was going to go out with him for drinks. Oh that's right. He should mention that.

"Great. We'll have a few drinks," he added with a smirk.

"We have class tomorrow Malfoy." she said with little conviction.

"I didn't say we'd get drunk Granger." he laughed. Suddenly she looked conflicted.

"Fine, a few drinks tonight." she agreed as the teams came back onto the field and tanner announced the games recommence.

Draco couldn't wait…


	4. Embarrassment

**Embarrassment**. It happens to us all. This is the fluffiest thing I think I've ever written. So enjoy the love. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and Tell me what you think of Draco in this chapter. I was going for him being a human, you know, that thing he's not in most fanfictions.

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Inter House Relations

Chapter 4

"I can't believe the game turned out like that," Hermione said in amazement as they entered The Three Broomsticks.

"Yeah, who knew that of all the students, Damien would be the one to get his team to work together?" Malfoy laughed, pulling out a seat for Hermione.

She sat and watched him round the table, never taking his eyes off her, as he took his seat. It was strangely complimenting and unnerving at the same time.

"Well, it's great that after his team started to work together it inspired the other team to do the same." Hermione said looking down at the wood table, trying to distract herself from his gaze.

"Then the other team wins. Did you see the look on his face when Tiffany Davis caught the snitch for the white team? A sort of mix between anger and triumph that his seeker beat Hufflepuffs, even if it was for the wrong team this time," Draco smiled hailing a waiter with the raise of his hand and still never looking away from her. The waiter stopped beside their table.

Hermione was about to open her mouth when Malfoy asked the waiter for two of the usual.

"Coming up," the waiter answered before walking away.

No one had ever ordered for her and Hermione decided not to comment on it. Instead, she continued the conversation.

"I was glad when McGonagall announced that white team was really Slytherin because Damien genuinely deserved to have his team win. If not for him who knows if anyone would have taken things seriously," Hermione said staring off in the distance to avoid his eyes.

"Agreed. No one else would have done what he did," Malfoy said.

Hermione thought about their earlier conversation in the bleachers and smiled.

"Except for you, right?" She asked, finally looking up at him.

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"You know, he called that time out right after you had just finished telling me about how you would just play the game no matter the conditions, right? At the time I thought that it was a good way to go about things too," She stated.

"I guess," he shrugged, and there was something different about him in that moment. Hermione's smile widened.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"It's just that," Hermione began as she put it together in her head. "You and Damien… well you're quite alike," she laughed. "Well, I mean. From when you were in school," she added thinking of the present Malfoy's strange personality.

"I see," he smiled and it was again somehow different.

Hermione examined his features. He shifted in his chair as she watched. Then she pried because she had no other means of figuring out his expression.

"What? Were you thinking the same about you and him?" she asked and finally he, for the first time since they'd been out tonight, looked away from her. In addition, for the first time since she had met Draco as a Professor, his face flushed.

"Are you embarrassed?" she laughed.

"A bit, yes." he smiled at her.

So it turns out that _the_ Draco Malfoy could be the easily embarrassed type and Hermione knew at that moment what she wanted to focus on tonight, payback for all the days he had spent getting under her skin. She wanted to know what got to him. Hermione let a wicked smile spread across her face and Malfoy tried to keep his smile in place as he saw the look in her eyes.

The waiter returned with their food and Draco let out a small sigh of relief at the interruption, but the small utterance did not go unnoticed by Hermione's now heightened senses.

As Hermione looked over the food he'd ordered with approval he cleared his throat and spoke.

"So," he evasively started, "tell me something about yourself," he said using the first thing that came to mind.

Hermione watched and, for the first time perhaps, because she hadn't been caught off guard, she noticed his sly change of subject. He always did things like that, throwing something at you when you least expect it, to get out of the conversation choice. He kept you chasing after his words, trying to keep up. In fact that's exactly how she ended up on this date with him. And now that she could see it clear as day, she realized he'd strung her along with this maneuver on more than a few occasions. However, tonight he wouldn't.

"Well, let's see," Hermione began, "I can't think of anything at the moment. Why don't you start while I come up with something. So Malfoy, anything interesting about yourself you want to tell?" she asked sounding like her usual self. He smiled at her from across the table and she feared that he suspected something was amiss.

"Not really, no. I'm just not all that interesting you see," he said with a shrug.

"Oh, come on Malfoy. You are probably one of the most interesting people I know," Hermione spoke honestly. "Tell me anything. You have a hobby?" Hermione tried.

He looked her over as she took a bite of her food. He couldn't hear it in her voice or see it on her face, but the conversation had a dangerous undertone and he was well aware that she was up to something.

"All though I should, no, I don't. but I do suspect that if I did, it would really help pass the time. Any suggestions?" he asked trying to get her to trail along again.

So he didn't like to talk about himself? What was this? Humility, or something else? Hermione wanted to find out.

"No, I won't be of help, I don't have any hobbies either. Unless reading counts," she laughed. "So how about music? What do you listen to?" she rolled in another question.

Draco smiled at her. Apparently she wanted to play. Did she think he wouldn't notice?

"I don't really listen to music…" he answered. "maybe you could suggest your favorites."

Hermione swallowed another bite while shaking her head.

"I can't. I don't really listen to much music either, and of the few things I do listen to, they're all muggle. You probably couldn't listen to them if you wanted to." she dismissed. "What do you know about muggle technology? Ever heard of an ipod or a laptop?" she asked.

"Knowledge about muggle stuff? Nope, none what so ever," he answered. It wasn't exactly true. He had some basic knowledge, like bank cards and what not, in case of emergencies but he wasn't about to let her win and start chatting it up about himself. "But your more than welcome to tell me about it. I'm interested to know." he said, again leaving it open ended.

Hermione stared at him. He knew what she was doing, but she wasn't giving up.

"No, it would take forever to explain that kind of stuff to you." she rolled her eyes playfully. "What's your favorite food?"

Now this was a question that everyone could elaborate on. Even if you don't have favorites, you have likes and dislikes. Especially when you're rich and can afford to eat the best.

"I'd have to say, anything that fills me up. I'm not too picky about what I eat." he lied. "You seem to have plenty of preferences judging by your very exact breakfast choices. Tell me, why do you use syrup on your eggs anyway?"

Damn it. How was she supposed to avoid something so direct?

Hermione thought of the story about how her mom would put pancakes and eggs on the same plate when she was younger. And how she always had syrup on her eggs now, even without the pancakes. Instead she shrugged.

"No reason in particular. Just habit. We all have habits right? What are yours?" she asked.

He laughed and set his fork on the table.

"Okay, what are you doing Granger?" he confronted her. And caught her off her guard.

"I'm not doing anything." she looked up at him innocently. He stared at her for a moment before picking up his fork and continuing his meal.

"I see," he answered. And before she knew it, she was in his trap.

"See what?" she asked, and from there she was on his string again. He smiled to himself for getting her back on his track. So what if he didn't like talking about himself. All it ever did was cause problems.

"Apparently you aren't in the mood to talk. It's okay, we can eat in silence." he said, watching her expression change as she realized he'd taken their banter the wrong way.

"No it's not that at all." she clarified. She was going to ask him why he wouldn't speak about himself, when he started talking.

"Oh good." he said, calling the waiter over with another raise of his hand. "Then we'll talk over drinks." and just like that she was back where he wanted her. Still, however short lived it may have been, he gave her credit for trying.

The waiter approached and Malfoy ordered 'the usual' again before he turned to her and said, "I hope you can handle your liquor."

She wanted to say that she didn't really drink and that she could barely handle a few too many butter beers but as he looked up at her with that annoying smirk on his face, it made her hold her tongue. Draco on the other hand had counted on this. His little outing with her was turning into something he didn't want and he figured that as long as he kept her on the defensive, she would stop with all the prying. So he'd loosen her up with a few drinks, that way she wouldn't have her wits about her, and he was free from worrying about whatever she had cooked up for him.

"Malfoy, it's a school night, remember." she tried.

"Oh don't worry about that. You're a witch after all, so I'm sure you know a few spells to use if you overdo it a bit." he dismissed.

"Of course," Hermione sighed. Of course he'd expect her to know every spell there was, but she'd never learned any for hangovers because she never got drunk. But again, something in the way he said it as though it were something she should obviously know, made her not want to admit the truth.

The waiter returned with a tray full of shots and Hermione swallowed hard. Maybe she should just tell the truth and not embarrass herself like she was, no doubt, about to do.

The waiter cleared their food away and smiled down at her with raised eyebrows as though he too saw how impossible it was for her. Was she that transparent? She looked at Malfoy across from her with a smug look on his face. Well it wasn't really smug but she felt like he was laughing at her underneath his cool façade. It was just a few drinks, besides she'd never been more than buzzed so how did she know if she could handle liquor or not? Only one way to find out.

Hermione picked up the nearest shot and threw it back. She squeezed her eyes shut tight as a burn ran its way down her throat. When she opened her eyes she was glad to see a gaped mouthed Draco sitting stunned in front of her. Then he smiled and picked up a shot of his own. He toasted it up to her before downing it.

"So," Hermione started, trying to give herself sometime before having to drink another. "this is 'the usual' for you?" she asked wanting to spark a conversation, any conversation, to distract from the drinking.

"Indeed. I come here whenever I get some time on my hands." he laughed watching her maneuvers in amusement. "Don't be shy Granger have another. It's on my tab." he pushed a shot over to her side.

She smiled at him before picking up the shot and pouring it into her mouth a bit slower than the first time, which she immediately realized was a mistake. He almost burst out laughing, as she tried to disguise her pain.

When she could speak again she cleared her throat.

"You should find a better pastime Malfoy." she said wiping the tears from her eyes.

He chuckled before tossing another one back.

"Perhaps," he smiled. "you can be my new pastime." he slid another drink to her.

Hermione's face grew hot. Her head went straight for the innuendo. She grabbed the shot and drank it back quickly to distract herself. After the burn went away she realized that this wasn't so bad. She felt fine. A little fuzzy, but she was okay. She could handle this after all. She grabbed another shot off the tray and tossed it back.

"Sure you don't want to slow down Granger?" He laughed.

Hermione smiled at him. Wow was he sexy. She was feeling fine, minus the flashbacks to her dream that suddenly came rushing at her. This was coming back because of his stupid comment about making her his pass time. Wait, maybe he was serious. No, he meant that they should hang out more, just like when they were in the bleachers when he asked her out. He doesn't want to get bored and he finds her entertaining.

"I'm fine," she said and drank another. God she was dizzy.

"I guess I should try to keep up." He said drinking another. He had a funny feeling that she was unaware of the fact that she was already drunk. That was quick. Now, any real gentleman would stop her because she had obviously had enough, especially if that gentleman was all too aware that she most likely didn't know any spells to counter a hangover, but at the moment he wasn't feeling all too generous.

"Granger?" he asked.

She looked up at him and blushed furiously, then looked away.

"What are you thinking?" he asked smiling at her reaction.

"I," she started and then frowned. She was sure that she probably shouldn't tell him what she was thinking about because it was rated R. but she couldn't get her mind to understand this. It wasn't listening to her, it wanted to talk.

"You…?" he asked.

Hermione wanted to sew her mouth shut, she tried to concentrate but everything was all over the place in her head.

"I," she started again. Oh god. Shut up mouth. "I was thinking about…you." she mumbled.

"Me?" he questioned now looking more serious. Malfoy was the one caught off guard for once and at the look on his face it reminded Hermione of something. Something she wanted to do. Something about Malfoy.

"Yeah," she continued without meaning to.

"What about me?" he asked leaning closer across the table.

What was it that this reminded her of? That look he had right now. He looked… it was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't get around wanting to say hot. Of course he was that too, but he was also…

"Hot…" she said then shook her head. "No, not that."

"What?" he asked confused.

"Um, sexy…?" she questioned. Damn that wasn't it either.

"Me?" he asked. And as his cheeks turned pink and then she remembered.

"Embarrassed!" she shouted. "That was it, of course. How could I let you make me forget."

Malfoy looked around at the tavern patrons and laughed.

"Keep it down will you?" he chuckled. "Now what are you talking about?"

Hermione stood from her seat and walked to stand beside him. She set one hand on the back of his chair and the other on the table, then leaned in close to his face. He looked up at her, then down her v-neck shirt and turned away.

"Your embarrassed right now, why?" she asked. "Was it because I was thinking dirty things about you? No, wait you didn't know about that. So what was it?"

Dirty thoughts? He smiled up at her. She managed to think even through a few shots of fire whisky. Not exactly clearly, but enough to remember her earlier agenda.

"You want to know what embarrasses me? Why?" He laughed.

Hermione felt anger rise in her at his flippant way of speaking about it, like it didn't matter.

"So I can have some leverage over you for once." she huffed a sigh. "ever since yesterday I've been acting like a complete pervert, thinking about all the things you could do to me and…" Hermione wanted to make herself shut up but it was impossible. The words were just falling from her mouth without thought. "and then I have this really hot sex dream about you forcing yourself on me making it impossible to look at you without thinking about how you'd look between my legs." Oh, for the love of god had she just said that? Hermione was beyond humiliated. "it's not like I like you or anything, but you're just too damned good looking for your own good you know? How can I ignore that when you're always flirting, hanging around and throwing your stupid witty remarks at me with their perverted innuendos, tell me that."

She wanted to crawl into a hole and die. She would take her Friday double History of Magic class over this, any day.

Malfoy just sat there in shock. He was actually at a loss for words. He couldn't even think of a way to make things less awkward, his head was too filled with the way she'd been thinking about him. This would have been really nice if they weren't in a public place.

"Maybe we should go." he finally said watching the many eyes on them. From behind the bar Madam Rosemerta gave him an encouraging smile. What was that supposed to mean?

He stood up and walked her out of The Three Broomsticks, and without another word, she followed.

"I am so stupid." she laughed.

"No, you're drunk." Draco corrected. Hermione gave him a quizzical look.

"Oh my god, I'm drunk," she laughed, and almost fell over.

"You sure are," Draco put an arm around her waist to keep her steady and noticed her face grow red. What was she thinking, he wondered. What had she been thinking about.

"You're doing it Malfoy," she said and stumbled again.

"What?" he asked focusing his attention on making sure she didn't fall over.

"The face you make when you're embarrassed. The least you could do after I just made a complete ass of myself, is to tell me your weakness." she said.

"I don't have any," he smiled down at her.

"Wow, you're a jerk. Can't even give me that much." she fussed.

"Well, tell me why I should give you a way to annoy me?" he asked, glad that she wasn't shutting down on him.

"It seems only fair, I mean I did just lose all of my dignity back there. And you don't talk enough about yourself for me to figure it out," she mumbled.

"True, on both accounts, " he laughed. "Fine, let's see."

"It has to be something super embarrassing too." She interrupted.

"Okay," he smiled. He thought of what he could say, then remembered that he didn't like to do that so he answered with the first thing he could think of that embarrassed him.

"Last week I ended up having a heart to heart with McGonagall about a girl I'm interested in and she ended up giving me some pretty helpful advice." he said and smiled at the look on her face.

"Yeah, that's pretty embarrassing," Hermione laughed. "So you have a crush right now, Malfoy?" she asked through her giggles.

"You could say that," He answered, as he helped her into their carriage.

"She must be really something for you to take an interest." Hermione considered what kind of girl that Malfoy would like and couldn't come up with anything. Malfoy sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulder.

"She is." he laughed and Hermione could tell he really liked this girl from the tone of his voice. As the carriage departed, the rocking began to make her feel sleepy.

"It must be hard on that girl to have someone like you pursuing her. You're stubborn and tricky so it'll only be a matter of time until you get her Malfoy. Don't give up if she's giving you a hard time." she yawned, falling into his chest.

"You think so?" He laughed, and she felt the sound rumble through his body.

"Of course," she replied as though he were dumb for even asking. "you're like every girl's dream guy, with the looks and the chivalry and the quirky personality. Even the annoying things about you can be over looked once she gets to know you." she laughed.

"I'm glad." he laughed again, "that's good to know."

Hermione smiled thinking about how stupid she'd been to feel the way she had about him and how glad she was to know that he had someone and that she was now sure that all he wanted was friendship.

She was quite thick in the head Draco thought. And when he looked down at her as they pulled up to the castle, she was already fast asleep.

Hermione woke up the next morning and her head was ready to explode. She felt horrible and the blinding light coming in through her window wasn't helping. Every bird chirp sent wave after wave of pain through her head. What had she done?

She sat up as slowly as she could and even then it was like her brain was getting whiplash. She looked at the clock on her bed side table and was glad to see that she had plenty of time to get ready for her classes. Then she noticed the vial sitting beside her clock on a little piece of parchment. Hermione picked up the vial, examined it, then picked up the parchment and read.

'For the nasty hangover you're no doubt going to have' -Draco

Hermione stared at it for a long time before she finally realized that she couldn't, for the life of her, remember what happened the night before.


	5. Professor Malfoy's Class

**I'll stop whining, but please continue to review because it made me want to put up this little tidbit for fun. **

**Emphasizing the day to day life of a Hogwarts Professor. **

**Or at least the way Draco lives it. **

**This chapter isn't full of fluff or love but I wanted to write in something that a lot of fanfictions lack... actual, realistic details about Hogwarts school life.**

**After all, contrary to fanfiction belief, Draco and Hermione don't spend every waking hour together and there are also such things as students who attend the school. Ever allusive in the presence of fanfictions, but if you look hard enough they're there in the shadows waiting for their chance to be seen. Here's your chance little guys...**

**So Here's a short bit of creative writing while you wait it out for the next chapter.**

**Thanks for the corrections and the feed back, I'm glad you all like my Draco so much. I hope you like his teaching style too.**

**Professor Malfoy's class, I wish he was my teacher. I think you will too.

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Interhouse Relations

Chapter 5

Hermione sat at the breakfast table trying to recall the night before. So far she remembered everything up until that second shot she'd had. Then there were bits and pieces of her talking to Malfoy in the carriage about someone. Who was it? And what happened at The Three Broomsticks before they left. It was something bad, she could remember the feelings she had but not the cause.

Malfoy sat beside her watching her beat herself up over last night's events. It was obvious that she couldn't remember what took place and he wondered how long it would take her to just ask him, or if she would rather suffer inwardly than ask him outright. Either way it was entertaining.

Hermione looked over to him and opened her mouth to say something, then closed it back, shooting him a glare and turning back to her food. He cocked an eyebrow, smiled at her indecision and went back to his breakfast.

Hermione spent the rest of breakfast going back and forth between asking and not asking him. Everyone began to empty the great hall by the time she decided to ask, but when she turned around he was already gone.

She walked numbly to her classroom wishing she had just been brave and done it earlier. It was something she was eventually going to have to do. As she approached her classroom she was shocked by the adolescent conversation she followed behind. In front of her were three students heading for her class.

"Sure, I'd let Tiffany Davis kick me in the balls any day. You should feel honored Nate," said one of her seventh year Gryffindors.

"Shut up Daniel," responded Nathaniel Jensen.

"No mate, Daniel has a serious point. Did you see the way she caught that snitch?" said another boy, letting out an over exaggerated sigh. He cupped his heart. "Take my breath away."

"Jason, you can't just excuse getting kicked in the bollocks just because the girl is good at Quidditch," Nate scoffed.

"Hell, why not? She's not only wicked at Quidditch, but she's also, by far, the hottest girl in our year," Daniel added. "Tell you what, why don't you just hand over that Head Boy badge, and I'll room with her instead if you can't handle her," Daniel finished with his hand out and Jason laughed.

"My balls still hurt you know. Have you both lost your senses? She's an annoying, spoiled, overbearing Slytherin," Nate defended.

"She can overbear me anytime," Jason said, then he and Daniel high fived.

"Besides Nate, " Daniel began, "if there is anything I learned from our inter house relations trip to Hogsmead, it's that just because I was strapped to a Slytherin, it didn't change the fact that I couldn't stop staring at her huge tits."

"Too true," Jason concurred "I guess this whole inter house thing is working because honestly," Jason began, then lowered his voice making the other two boys lean in close. "I don't know how you guys feel about it, but I realized that as much as I hate Slytherin, I didn't mind being stuck with Dickens as much as I should have." He said, embarrassment crossing his face as his friends contemplated the meaning of his words.

"Tracy Dickens?" Nate finally said.

Daniel sighed, "As long as we're confessing I suppose I'll admit it too," he shrugged.

Nate looked at his two best friends then shut his eyes tight and admitted the truth.

"Fine, Davis is super hot and I was thinking about it the whole time, but really it doesn't change personality," he mumbled. "What were our professors doing when they made that roster?" he asked pinching his nose.

"What do you mean?" Jason inquired.

"You didn't notice?" Nate asked looking up at his two friends' clueless expressions. "It's like Professors Malfoy and Granger were playing matchmaker with us. They chose everyone with outrageous attention to compatibility you know?"

His two friends thought it over and then their eyes widened in shock.

"Merlin, your right…" Daniel said.

"What were they playing at? You think they did on purpose?" Jason asked.

"I dunno," Nate answered as he headed into the class, "but I bet we aren't the only ones finding our female Slytherin counterparts attractive." He said before disappearing into the class room.

"Hell, I hope not." Jason said.

"I hope those Slytherin ladies are feeling the same." Daniel laughed before he and Jason disappeared into the room behind Nate.

Hermione stood there stunned. Is that what she and Draco had done? She smiled. Well at least it was helping McGonagall along, she thought before entering the classroom and asking her students to get their books out. There was a groan of disappointment and Hermione laughed, having forgotten, for now, about her drunken escapades yesterday.

Hermione smiled as Tiffany Davis looked over at Nathaniel Jensen, laughing with his two best friends and smirked before looking away. She couldn't believe that McGonagall's plan was working, even if it was just a little. Then again this was also still just the beginning.

A few classes later.

"Later Professor Granger!" one of her third years shouted while exiting the room. She was glad to have a free period before lunch. It would give her time to catch up on the grading she needed to do. Then she was going to have a meeting with the prefects at the start of lunch and afterward she would get more papers corrected before the beginning of her next lesson.

All of a sudden she was reminded of the reason she hadn't graded papers last night, and she glumly recalled that she still needed to speak with Malfoy. Perhaps she'd use her free period to pay him a visit instead, besides, she wouldn't get much grading done with this back on her mind anyway. She huffed a sigh.

"Professor?" someone asked from behind her, and she turned to see a small Hufflepuff boy.

"Yes, Emon?" Hermione asked the small third year. He looked around and waited for every last Gryffindor and Hufflepuff to exit the room before speaking.

"Professor Granger you have to help us," he said and Hermione was immediately sent into hysterics.

"What's wrong? What happened?" she asked looking at him wide eyed.

"It's horrible," he cried, letting tears run down his face.

"What's going on Emon?" She asked putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You and Professor Malfoy have to fix our roster with the Ravenclaws please," he said and Hermione was taken aback.

"What?" she asked confused.

"I keep hearing the Slytherins and Gryffindors talk all about how the Hogsmead trip wasn't all that bad because you and Professor Malfoy are cool heads of your houses," he cried.

"Um, thank you but," Hermione felt so sorry for him but- "I'm sorry Emon but I can't change what your heads decided." she said solemnly. Emon looked up suddenly more serious. He wiped his tears away and looked her in the eyes.

"They paired me with Bishop," he stated in anger willing her to understand, and she did. Kevin Bishop was the meanest Ravenclaw she'd ever encountered. He was constantly undermining other students and calling people out on how stupid they seemed in comparison to him. He made even his fellow house mates feel inferior for just being in the same house as him. He was the Percy Wesley of the Ravenclaws. Whereas Emon was, well, the Neville Longbottom of the Hufflepuffs. He probably ate this kid alive. What had his heads been thinking or did they even care?

"It's okay Emon. It was just for the day, you won't have to deal with him again." Hermione soothed. The boy let stray tears run down his face.

"I overheard McGonagall telling another Professor that she was going to continue using the previous rosters for the upcoming events," he said before letting out more sobs of despair. "I can't do it again."

Hermione felt so horrible. Not only for Emon and his house but for Danielle Marcy. She and Malfoy had been sure it was only going to be a onetime thing and paired her with that fowl… she couldn't say it about a student, but you get the point. So where as everyone else was enjoying their little inter house relations, she'd damned her favorite student.

Hermione looked down at Emon who was watching her expectantly.

"Don't worry, get to class and I'll see what I can do okay?" Hermione said before leaving to Malfoy's classroom.

Hermione walked down the hall to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and stopped in the doorway when she heard a chorus of cheers. Malfoy was sitting on his desk facing the students with his sleeves rolled up his forearms and his always bored features had a small smile. Hermione listened in.

"Settle down," he laughed. "Let's see, Flores, give it a try,"

Hermione edged around the door and saw Tanner do a hand movement with his wand.

"You're a little loose in your wrist," Malfoy said and pulled out his wand. "Be firm in your movements or your spell will miss." He did the wand movement with quick and precise strokes.

"Keep Practicing. Now," he said hopping off the desk and pocketing his wand. "The tournament Begins."

There were whoops and cheers.

"As for the standings," he continued and the class immediately quieted. "In the beginning of last week, the green team was pretty slow on the uptake" he started and all the Gryffindors cheered, "BUT," he continued, walking back and forth in front of his desk, "nearing the end of the week red team slipped up and gave the green team the advantage," he finished with a shrug as the Slytherins whistled and the Gryffindors booed.

Malfoy held up his hands and the class grew silent again. "It was a valiant effort on all of you guys' parts but…" and the crowed hissed, "That's right, last week's winner was the yellow team, with Hufflepuff racking up a total of… drum roll please," and the students all banged on their desks, "five hundred and thirty two points." Everyone booed.

"So who will it be this week?" He asked, "Let's find out." and then he looked up and saw Hermione standing in the doorway. He walk over to her and pulled her into the room before she could protest.

"Malfoy, I just came to talk but I can see you're busy, so I can wait 'till dinner." she said but he ignored her and sat her down in a chair in the front corner, then addressed the class.

"Everyone set your piece of parchment on your desks. Hands off your quills and books off the desks, you know the drill, let's go." he said, then as the students shuffled he turned back to Hermione, and spoke, "You've got a free period right?" he asked, and Hermione nodded. "Good." he said before turning back to the class and speaking.

"Alright it looks like our very own Professor Granger will be keeping score for us today," he announced. There was an eruption of cheers from the Gryffindors, Malfoy handed her a piece of parchment with red team and green team written at the top and split down the middle with a folded crease.

"Okay, okay," he spoke. He began walking up and down the aisles "let's begin. The scenario?" he asked as the students quieted and watched with anticipation as he paced around the room slowly. Once he had all their attention he answered his own question. "You're in a dark ally and up comes some creepy looking wizard ready to take every galleon you've got on you. He shoots a spell. What do you do?" he asked and hands shot up all around the room.

"Alright, first hand was green teams Marquis. What you got?" he asked pointing to a kid in the front row.

"What's the spell?" the boy asked.

"Good," Malfoy began, "Three points for his call on relevance." he pointed to Hermione and she scribbled it out on the parchment. "Marcy, give us a spell, chapter fifteen." he spoke.

"Desirous," Danielle answered.

"Alright, good one. Three points red team." he said and again Hermione scribbled. "Who's been reading?" he continued and again hands shot into the air.

"First hand, red team, Phillips." he said pointing at a girl.

"It's a spell that detaches limbs." she answered.

"Text book, thank you. Full points." he said, then turned to Hermione and added. "that's five points." before he continued to address the class. "Scenario?" he asked again getting them back on track.

Hands.

"Again first hand, red team, Jackson." he said then shrugged at the groans from Slytherins, "don't groan at me, try being faster next time," he added before turning to Jackson for his answer.

"Um," the boy started "I'd like to call points on relevance." he said and Malfoy waved for him to continue. "How much money is it?" the boy asked and everyone groaned.

"One point from red, irrelevance." Malfoy said and the boy put up his hand and waited for Malfoy to nod at him before speaking.

"I'm just asking because it can change your tactics if the money isn't worth it. I can always reattach my arm with a fortess charm but I can't get my life back after fighting over a few knuts." he elaborated and Malfoy nodded his head in agreement. Students laughed.

"Alright," Malfoy called, "three points for relevance and full point for knowing the counter curse." he said and the Gryffindors cheered. "Now if there are no more points on relevance back to scenario. You've just visited Gringott's and pulled five hundred galleons."

Again hands.

"First hand, green team, trying to make a comeback, Austen," Malfoy pointed to the girl in the third row.

"Expelliermas." she answered and Malfoy deliberated.

"Too basic, dig deeper, one point," he answered, and before he was even done speaking, there were more hands in the air. "First hand, green team, Fields." he said and Hermione wrote the last point on the parchment before she forgot. This game was quick pace.

"Duck or dodge," the boy said.

"Full points," Malfoy said. "Why?" he surveyed, "First hand, red team, Sheppard.

"If you try to block a spell from behind you may not be quick enough to say the spell. Instead, if you duck or side step as soon as you hear the curse, you can pull out your wand and face your attacker, ready for the next spell he may shoot." He answered.

"Text book, full points," Malfoy smiled, "the scenario continues."

Hands shot into the air and Draco pointed at the first, second and third hand to go up.

"Green team, Scott. Green team Sherman. Red team Flores." Malfoy said and the three student scribbled on their parchment and then folded them. Malfoy walked down the aisles and collected the parchment from the three students, then went up to the front of the room and handed them to Hermione after mixing them around in his hands a few times.

"Open them and call them out one at a time," he told her then addressed the class. "Okay, everybody got their quills ready?" he asked pointing at a few slower students to hurry them up. When he saw that everyone had their quills at the ready he nodded at Hermione and she unfolded the first paper.

"Deldious," she read and scribbles sounded around the room.

"Definition?" Malfoy asked and hands went up. "First hand, Marcy."

"A spell which causes the attacker to black out," Danielle responded.

"Full points," Malfoy said and Hermione scribble a five under the red team.

Hermione opened the next one after looking up at Malfoy and he nodded for her to continue.

"Fillute," Hermione read and there was a roar of laughter.

Hermione looked up and watched as Malfoy smiled at the class then spoke over the laughter.

"Definition?" he asked sounding amused, "First hand, green team, Hull," Malfoy said.

"A spell to dismember," the student laughed out.

"Text book, full points," Malfoy laughed, "Now, hurry up and get it down." he instructed and the students scratched on their parchment again. Malfoy shook his head smiling then motioned for Hermione to continue.

Hermione unfolded the last parchment and read, "Stupefy."

"Definition?" he asked once more, "First hand, Green team, Spelling."

"To petrify you opponent," she answered.

"Remember to memorize the full definition next time, three points," he said then continued as he walked around and began collecting everyone's parchment. "Alright everybody pull out your books and start on chapter sixteen while I get this all tallied up," he said and everyone, without a word followed orders.

Hermione was shocked. The mere mention of taking out books, sent all her classes into a fit of grunts and groans. But with the way he handled his classroom no wonder all the students liked him. Hermione was a bit jealous.

"Help me with this will you," he said and beckoned her over to his desk. He pulled up a chair for her and then sat himself down on the other side of the desk. He handed her a stack of parchment. "Just add up the scores the student gave each spell." he explained.

Hermione looked over the spells and then tallied the numbers beside them on a separate paper.

"So," she began, feeling a bit awkward, "you do this every day?" she asked.

"He didn't look up at her as he answered.

"Almost," he said, then mouthed the numbers he was counting.

"How can you have the energy?" Hermione wondered aloud and he chuckled.

"Sometimes I don't, so I give book work, you caught me on a good day," he said then looked up at her with a smirk, and added casually, "After the fun we had at dinner last night, I find myself in quite the good mood today," before going back to counting.

Hermione blushed and shook her head while shrugging her shoulders, "Yeah, about that," she said, but then he put a hand up to halt her still looking down at the paper and mouthing numbers.

God, she felt like a complete idiot, whatever she had done had really put him in a good mood and she was dying to know what it was, but she didn't want to hear it either. She shook her head at the embarrassment she was feeling. She had done something really stupid and knew it. Did she really want to hear him recapping the details to her? She watched as he scribbled a number in his note book. Then he looked up at her and smiled.

"You were saying?" he asked and Hermione couldn't bring herself to ask him after thinking it over for that minute he gave her. She shook her head.

"No, it was nothing…" she said then went back to the papers in front of her, "just about done."

When she got the final total she handed it to Malfoy and he added it to his own in his notebook. Malfoy stood up and walked to the front of the class.

"Okay," he sighed, calling their attention, "The votes for best way to end the scenario have been counted. "Stupefy, earned the least points," he said and the Sherman boy waved to acknowledge that, that was his answer.

"Second was Deldious." He said and Damien waved his hand.

"And although I feel that being almost mugged hardly calls for castration, most of you gave full points to Fillute," the class clapped and cheered as Tanner Flores stood up and took a bow.

Draco gave them a moment to settle.

"Alright," he continued, "the ten extra points go to red team, Bringing the final score From all the classes so far to," He looked at his notebook. "Yellow team fifty, read team seventy," he waited for the cheers and boo's to settle, "blue team sixty two, and green team… ninety four." The Slytherins hollered so loud that it rang in Hermione's ears. Malfoy settled them with a raise of his hand.

"Don't get too excited, it's the beginning of the week and my next class is the advanced group so things will change," he said then looked at the clock on the wall, "We went a little overtime again. Study chapter sixteen tonight so the yellow team doesn't beat you guys' again, I mean it's pretty embarrassing," he said looking serious but the class laughed. "Now get packed up and get out," he finished then turned back to a stunned Hermione. He walked over and began to straighten up his desk as he spoke.

"Don't worry Granger, you're still their second favorite Professor," he smiled, and Hermione closed her gaping mouth before shoving him slightly.

"Shut it," she said, "how can anyone compete with that?" she asked feeling jealous again just thinking of the control he had with his class. How his simple ease translated so well into his teaching.

"They can't I suppose," he said laughing, letting that bit of his old cocky self shine through in his smirk. Hermione rolled her eyes. "So what did you come here to talk to me about?" he asked.

Hermione thought of the reasons she'd come to his classroom.

"Oh, that's right," she said dismissing her first reason and focusing on the second. "I had a Hufflepuff third year come to me after class crying and begging us to change the roster the other heads made." she said.

"Yeah, I've had few come to me as well," he began, "I told them it wasn't my business," he shrugged. Hermione couldn't believe him, didn't he have any sympathy.

"Did you know that McGonagall plans to continue using the roster for upcoming events?" she asked. His face fell a bit.

"Yes, some students say they've overheard her talking with other professors about it," he said.

"Well, we should ask McGonagall if we could just look over the lists before she finalizes it, tell her that we have some revisions," she said watching as he just stared at her.

"It's not our place," he finally said, "and it can't be that bad."

"Not that bad? They put little Emon up against Bishop. I mean, did they just pull names out of a hat?" she said looking offended. He couldn't help but smile. She looked up at him. "I'm serious Malfoy." she said.

"Look," he reasoned taking a deep breath and leaning across the desk, "that's really sad and all but-"

"Malfoy," she said with a sad sigh, looking him in the face with her big doe eyes, "Please. It's just sad, the way they were put together, besides if we did, we'd be stopping a lot less fights," she pleaded. He was pretty sure that she was unaware of the way she looked when she asked for help or of how much it helped her plead her case.

He ran a hand through his hair and groaned, he couldn't resist that look no matter how much he didn't want to add more work to his already backed up load.

"Fine," he said and her face lit up, "we'll talk to McGonagall during dinner," she clapped her hands together as he continues, "and then we can discuss the new roster over dinner in Hogsmead again tomorrow." Her face immediately fell and he held back a laugh. She looked lost in thought for a moment before she settled on something.

"Malfoy about that," she began, and Malfoy cleared his throat.

"Don't you have a prefect meeting to host that started five minutes ago?" he asked, and she shot up from her seat.

"Oh, I can't believe I forgot. See you later Malfoy," she called before speeding out the door.

Malfoy laughed as she passed the threshold. He wasn't ready to let her know about their night together yet. But he would, soon. After McGonagall finished setting up the next inter house relations activity. Their headmistress was a sly old woman. He headed out the door for lunch.

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**Wanted to say that the chapter has been up for less than 24 hours and I have over a thousand hits. OMG, its the first time I'v ever got so many the Reviews so far really made me want to cry. lol. No, I'm not kidding...**

**I didn't expect ppl to really like this chapter for lack of romance but I'm supper pleased. So thank you.  
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**Hope you enjoyed and send me a review.**


	6. Maybe Too Nice?

**Alright, Here we go, the story plot twist. **

**So I'm on my game with all this updating. Every time I see you guys' reviews I hop on the computer and get to work.**

**I have deviant art and I've decided to post some fan art of my fanfic on it. LifesADarkArt **

**So if you're into it, give it a visit. Btw, when writing fanfictions I try not to get to descriptive about the characters because we all know what Malfoy and Granger look like, and I find that it muddles up the story and makes Draco sound like a total pussy for noticing ever speck of color in Hermione's eyes. **

**For more details on that read (what fanfiction writers and readers really want.)  
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**So in my art you'll get to see what it looks like to me. If you'd rather not have your imagination tampered with, then I completely understand.  
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**I don't have anything posted but a sketch for now, but when I get my full color pics up, I'll let you know. (Copic Sketch Markers) they rule!  
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**I'm happy to know that you all liked the mundane day in the live at Hogwarts chapter I posted, (over a thousand hits) and that most of you wouldn't mind getting more in touch with the students of Hogwarts this year. So just to make it easier on all of us, I made most of the student character's Prefects in this chapter.**

**This way you'll get to hear a lot more about them as we go along.**

**Btw, I'm going to college to be a middle/high school teacher (can't do little kids) or I want to own a school or tutoring place some day and that is how I think school should be.  
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**Hope you enjoy the chapter, And I'm sure I'll get some Flames around the end but a review is a review. ^-^

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Interhouse Relations

Chapter 6

Hermione walked down the hall on her way to dinner feeling like she'd love for a bus to just hit her so she wouldn't have to carry herself any farther into the depression that engulfed her. Okay, hold on everyone, let's backtrack for a second, well, more like a few hours.

"Professor?" Hermione asked shocked to see the headmistress standing in the doorway to her class room with the prefects and the two head students.

"Ah, Professor Granger," McGonagall spoke, turning to acknowledge Hermione's presence. The frowns and angry faces appeared on the students as soon as McGonagall's back was turned. Hermione was taken aback by the reaction of these prized set of students. Most of them were pretty respectful, so whatever the headmistress had been previously discussing must have really rubbed them the wrong way.

"What's going on?" Hermione slowly asked, feeling like one wrong step may get McGonagall killed.

"I was just informing the Prefects and our Heads of the coming field trip," McGonagall said sternly, as if to inform those glaring at her back that her decision was final.

"Field trip?" Hermione asked confused. Since when did Hogwarts take field trips? Hermione suspected that the skepticism was apparent on her face when the students beyond McGonagall nodded in agreement of her disbelief. McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Yes. Camping for the coming weekend," she began and Hermione straightened up her face. "It has all been arranged. Here are the details." She handed Hermione a stack of parchment. Hermione ran her eyes over the papers and was shocked to see students names with parent signatures beside then. How could McGonagall have managed this?

Of course there was a student here or there without a signature but to have gotten so many, and every Slytherin even, it was amazing. Then Hermione suddenly had a feeling that McGonagall had been planning this for much longer than just a weekend ago.

"I expect you to have the prefects in order by Friday. I'll speak with Mr. Flores and Ms. Davis about their duties tonight in my office," she said then turned back to the students. Only half of them bothered to hide how offended they were. "This is the beginning of relations between houses and as prefects I expect all of you to have pride in your school not just your house. All of you have the responsibility of treating everyone as equals. I hope that you all understand the importance of that responsibility and of how it will affect your fellow houses judgment," she said and left the classroom without a backward glance. It was unmistakably final.

Hermione walked deeper into the room and sat atop her desk as the students gathered around sitting behind or on tables to commence the meeting.

"Well," Hermione sighed flipping through the papers. "I suppose this is the start of Inter House Relations." she said and a collected groan went through the room.

"That's rubbish," Damien spoke, "If this is the start, then what the hell was that ghastly weekend I just had. That ruddy Quidditch game and the day I spent stuck to her," he scoffed pointing at Danielle, who glared at him. "What was that, a preliminary?"

There was agreement around the room.

"Alright, settle down," Hermione began, "I know that this isn't easy but-"

"Not easy?" Nathaniel repeated skeptically, "I didn't go through six years avoiding Slytherins to have it backfire like this for my final year."

"You think you're the only one?" Tiffany accused. "We're all suffering you self absorbed ass."

Hermione stood there unable to think of what to say as the fighting continued. This was a disaster.

The female sixth year Slytherin prefect stepped up to the front and faced her peers.

"It's not all that bad" she said, calling the others attention. "We shouldn't treat this like it's the end of the world. We'll face working with a lot worse people when we graduate and as for me I'm thankful for this. We all need it. Look at yourselves acting like a bunch of immature kids. We're not first years and we've all had classes with each other long enough to know that what house you're in doesn't make you a good or bad person."

Hermione could just hug this girl.

"I'm tired of it," the girl continued, "everyone looking at me and thinking I'm some pureblood, muggle born hating, spoiled brat, and I know that a lot of the other Slytherins won't admit it, but so are they. To be honest, those hours I spent trying to break that stupid binding spell last Saturday, made me realize how nice it was to get a chance to prove I'm different to one of those Gryffindor know it all's. And in turn I learned that he wasn't as much of a wanker as I'd always thought," she finished looking at all the faces around the room, daring them to disagree.

"Thank you Sarah," Hermione said, and she truly was thankful. "She's right you know," Hermione began thinking of her own situation. "When I first came to work here this year knowing that Malfoy would-" she shook her head, "That Professor Malfoy" She corrected with more respect in her tone of voice, "would be working here, believe me, it was enough to make me think twice about taking this job." Everyone listened intently.

" I'm sure you all know his and my own relationship from the time of the war," she continued. "Well, needless to say, as many of you have witnessed, it was just as I expected it to be when I got here. All we did was argue when we saw each other. He was-" she shook her head, "no, still is, constantly trying to get under my skin." the students laughed. "But I had to remind myself that we weren't kids anymore every time I saw him. I had to work with him with no ifs, ands or buts." Hermione said and at the looks of deep interest on the twenty four students' faces she continued. "I'm sure you've all seen him on a bad day?" she asked and they all nodded with looks on their faces as though they knew it well.

"Well, he's a lot nicer now than he ever was when we were in school, even on his worst days, and every time I looked at him when I came here that's all I saw. The old Malfoy. But it didn't take me long to see that, although he was still far from being a saint, he had grown into a pretty decent adult. I realized that we all change and I even began to wonder if he had always been tolerable and because of what house he was in, I never looked past his bad boy façade," she laughed. "To be honest, I've known some Gryffindors who grew up to be a lot less respectable than the one person I'd always imagined would spend most of his days in Azkaban. You never know, the person you most hate right now may end up being more trustworthy than your best friends." She finished.

The silence lingered a bit longer as they took in the possibility. Then Danielle spoke up.

"And what do you think of Professor Malfoy now?" She asked and the whole room was thick with anticipation. Hermione sat there awkwardly, thinking of a suitable way to answer that question.

She hadn't really thought of that before. How did she consider Malfoy? Well she was pretty sure she was physically attracted to him. That was true. And she didn't think he was so much a smug bastard as more a modest guy with a strange sense of humor. He was still mostly a mystery really. In fact a lot of things about him were conflicting and contradictory right now. Some days he was weirder than others.

"Professor?" Danielle asked. Hermione looked up at them all waiting on her answer.

"He's…," she began and was well aware that her cheeks were burning even without the smiles the students were shooting her. "I, suppose he's an associate." she answered, feeling strangely tense.

"That's all?" Sarah pressed on with a smile. Hermione hopped off the desk.

"Well I guess I consider him a friend now," she said and walked around to take a seat behind it, setting the papers down and trying to feign nonchalance. Everyone snickered.

"Good to know, but Azkaban, really?" a deep voice came from the doorway. All the students turned around and greeted Malfoy while Hermione held her face in her hands cursing his timing. He walked his way to the front of the room and leaned against her desk facing the students as he continued, "Don't let her fool you, she doesn't want to admit it, but she feels terribly silly for ever thinking I was bad person in the first place," he smiled and the students laughed.

Hermione cringed, then suddenly felt angry, "How long have you been here?" she asked getting up from her desk to stand next to him.

"Long enough." He said, smirking at her, then seeing the look of anger on her face he closed his eyes and shrugged. "Around the end of Nugent's very passionate speech." he answered then looked up at Sarah, "Very nice by the way."

"Thank you Professor," Sarah mumbled with a blush and Malfoy continued, looking back at Hermione.

"I ran into McGonagall," He began, "I got the okay for the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw roster by the way. Anyway, she asked me to come up here when I saw her in the hall, something about me needing to hear some details." he finished.

Hermione sighed and handed him the papers from her desk.

"Camping field trip." he read, "Wait. Field trip?" he asked looking up at Hermione.

"Yeah, a field trip." Hermione confirmed. "If you look at the last page you'll notice it's just the first of many to come…" she said watching Malfoy look through the parchments.

"All these signatures," He said.

"I know," Hermione agreed in understanding.

"She knew all along" He continued.

"I know," she said again followed by a sad sigh.

"What's with you Granger, aren't you ecstatic about this? What happened to all that 'I'm glad to be part of Hogwarts history' stuff you were spewing a few days ago?" he asked setting the parchments back on her desk. Hermione scowled at his imitation of her, then sighed.

"All the papers I'm going to have to find a way to grade without another weekend, is what happened." she answered.

"Next time we go drinking together we'll schedule it for a week day after classes." He laughed. "How's that sound?"

Hermione poked him hard in the chest and frowned, "It's not funny. Next time you ask me out on a date I'll just turn you down." she fumed.

"As if you could resist." he scoffed.

"Malfoy, you're such ass. I take it back." she said folding her arms over her chest.

"Take what back?" he asked holding back a laugh at her childish gesture.

"That stuff about how you're not a smug little snot anymore. I must have been mistaken." she huffed.

"Oh come on Granger," he laughed out, "I was only telling the truth. It's not narcissistic to know that my charms overwhelm you. It's fact."

Hermione looked at him in shock, "This is what I was talking about when I told you, you have a ghastly sense of humor."

"Okay, Okay," he said trying to hold a straight face, "I'm sorry, just don't give me the silent treatment again alright. Who knows how long it'll take to be forgiven this time."

"Apology not excepted," she said, "stop acting like a prat all the time and I'll think of letting this go."

"I already told you, if you didn't make it so easy I just might leave you alone every once in a while." he smirked. "Besides we have a responsibility to our students to get along remember?" he said watching as her face thought over sacrificing pride for duty.

"You win this time," she said glaring at him.

"And all the next as well," he laughed and she rolled her eyes.

Damien cleared his throat and Hermione suddenly remembered where they were. Her cheeks flushed where as Malfoy just smiled up at all of them as though the scene were normal. How did he always do that? Either he was in unbelievable control of his emotions, or he really just didn't find these kinds of happenings embarrassing or awkward. Or a third, and more likely choice, was that he had no shame. Most of the students where whispering to each other, or smiling at them in a strange way, making her feel even more ill at ease. What must they be thinking?

"So," Damien began, looking up at Malfoy, "What did you think of her during school?" he asked, referring to Hermione and she, like the students, fell silent looking at him to continue. Malfoy chuckled.

"Granger was by far the most annoying know it all I've met to this day." he answered without a moments deliberation on the subject and Hermione felt a tinge of pain at his words, "But," he started, "she was also brilliant at everything she did, except Divination," he laughed "She was constantly outdoing me. She gave a hundred and ten percent in everything she did. She finished what she started and was always nice to everyone in the school unless they didn't want her kindness." He smirked. "That was me. I treated her like dirt and she defended herself bravely."

Everyone listened intently and Hermione wondered if she was the only one who heard the change in his voice as he continued.

"She was the first girl to ever stand up to me. Slapped me across the face third year." he said and the class looked shocked. "I know, I couldn't believe it either," he laughed, "I hated her. Not for slapping me, well, maybe for that too, but for plenty of more important reasons. She made me jealous of what she had, close friends, strive, and an uncanny willingness to do what she thought was right even if it meant putting herself through trouble or embarrassment, where as I, being a Slytherin and a pureblood, felt like I had to keep appearances and never let my pride be brought down by a muggle born."

He looked at the students with a solemn smile, "If I'd had the chance then that you have now, I probably would have wasted it just like all of you want to, but knowing what I know now, life would have been a lot easier without all the house hatred we went through," he said then looked up at Hermione, "and I'm glad I get a sort of second chance to get to know someone I was too proud to admit I admired before."

Hermione was…flabbergasted. She turned away from him and was faced with the looks of awe the students were giving her.

"Granger," Malfoy laughed, "don't act all modest now, after all when we were in school you were constantly trying to tell me that you were better than me. Why the shy face when I admit it?" he said poking her cheek. She slapped his hand away in annoyance and he smirked at her.

"Well?" Tiffany asked. "What do you think of Professor Granger now that you've had the chance to get to know her?"

"Let's see" He began and Hermione was riddle with anxiety when he took pause. If he actually stopped to think about something it must really be a tough question for him to answer. Things usually just fell out of his mouth no matter how rude or inappropriate. "Granger is…" he frowned, "the best part of my day and perhaps my knew favorite pass time," he answered with a smirk and a shrug. A lot of students flushed at his unclear association with their history Professor and Hermione was having a strange sense of déjà vu.

Then like a ton of bricks, last night at The Three Broomstick hit her with violent force. She stood there in shock as Draco looked down at her with a huge grin.

"Oh, my, God" she whispered, feeling her stomach twist in knots and her face grow hot. "I didn't." she said.

"You did," he laughed and the students watched in confusion.

"I couldn't have," she said covering her face with her hands.

"You did," He repeated. He hadn't planned on her finding out this way but this was a better reaction than he could have imagined. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," he laughed and unexpectedly Hermione looked up at the students with tears in her eyes and spoke.

"Malfoy-" she started then remembered, "Professor Malfoy will finish up her here, if you'll all excuse me." she said and walked out of the room with a brisk pace.

Everyone stood there stunned until finally Nathan spoke. "What in the bloody hell did you do to her Professor?" he asked and everyone watched him expectantly. Malfoy was still in shock. Then suddenly he felt frantic. He didn't even look away from the door as he spoke.

"Recommence after dinner," he announced and was already in the corridor before anyone could get a word in.

She seemed fine last night after making a fool of herself. She'd been laughing and talking about how stupid she felt like is wasn't that big a deal. Did being drunk make her not care about confessing to him. Did it impair how embarrassing the situation was in her head or something? Either way, he hadn't expected her to start crying. God he felt like a monster.

It wasn't even that big a deal. Everyone had a sex dream here and there, well he'd had plenty. More than a few featuring her as the lead role. Okay, now he felt dirty. He may be a pretty free willing guy, but he wasn't about to tell her about those fantasies, and he doubted it would console her to know about them anyway.

Then he stopped walking, realizing that there really wasn't much of anything he could say to soothe her. He groaned in frustration. Lunch would be over soon anyway. He sighed and headed back to his classroom. He felt kind of bad for his next classes, they wouldn't be having too much fun today.

Hermione blew her nose. She'd run to the nearest ladies room she could find. Just like the old days, she smiled. Then she realized that it wasn't funny. She felt so stupid. She'd told him everything. He'd been acting so normal today knowing that she didn't remember what happened. Ugh, she wanted to kill him, if she could face him without bursting into tears. Okay, she needed to get it together. She had a class to get back to. Personal business comes second, she reminded herself.

She looked in the mirror and was glad to see that her eyes weren't red. She took a deep breath, went back to her classroom and did her best to stay focused during her last few lessons.

Now we return to the story at hand.

Hermione was walking to lunch, morbidly musing possible deaths. Anything to save her from having to see Malfoy at the dinner table. Screw it, she was ditching dinner again. She turned back around and headed for the staircase.

She needed to take her mind off of things. Maybe do that grading she wouldn't have a chance to do this weekend. She sighed, she'd need to have more concentration for that. Maybe she'd read a book or better yet write. In fact she could write a letter to everyone and see how they were doing.

Harry was in auror training and they hadn't spoken in a while. Ginny and Ron were running the Weasley's shop in Diagon Ally so they always had their hands full. After the death of Fred, George had broken every mirror in the Wesley house. It was pretty bad, but after some time in St. Mungo's he'd gotten better. Still, he couldn't stand the shop, so he moved to a rural area outside of London and continued to invent the gags, toys and candy that where always being confiscated in the school. Hermione smiled. She'd write them all.

She opened the door to her room and was greeted by Malfoy.

"Figured you'd come here." he said.

Hermione's improving mood took a nose dive. She couldn't even look at him let alone tell him to get out. So instead she did the only thing she was capable of, she walked past him, straight into her room, then shut and locked the door behind her.

Knock, knock.

"Granger?" he called from the other side of the door.

No answer.

"Open the door."

No answer.

"You're being ridiculous."

Shuffling.

"What are you doing?"

More shuffling.

"Damn it Granger," he said then saw a piece of parchment slide under the door. "You can't be serious." he muttered.

No answer.

He sighed and picked up the parchment and read 'GO AWAY.'

Now, Draco was reformed, yes, but he was still a Malfoy and old habits die hard, or in this case they never died in the first place. Malfoy's just didn't come with patience built in, it was something that was learned and Draco had never mastered that particular art…

"Granger, just open the door," he spoke in a stern voice trying to keep calm. It had been a long while since he'd lost his temper. But this was ridiculous. He was humbling himself for her and she couldn't even at least respond to him through a door. He was running out of what little sympathy he'd had.

No answer.

"Please…" he said through gritted teeth and another piece of paper came from under the door. 'I CAN'T.'

He rested his forehead against the door and tryed to calm down a bit.

"It's not that serious and you're overreacting." He said and got a bang on against the door in answer. He took a deep, breath turned his back to the door and slid his way down to the floor. "Look it was just a se-"

"Noooo! don't say it." she yelled covering her ears and shaking her head. She didn't want to talk about it. She knew only bad could come of it. She was a pervert. Even now, just thinking about it wasn't having the effect it should be. She should be ashamed of herself. And she was trying to be, but it was hard when she could see him…kissing- No.

"Why is it that you can yell at me to not say anything, but you can't talk to me normally?" he asked. He was just about fed up. "You're acting like a complete child." he said, and he was right. She didn't need him telling her that. Okay, she could be an adult. She wasn't a pervert, she was a woman with normal needs, and a normal attraction to a not so normal but attractive man. She breathed in then exhaled slowly before opening the door and Malfoy fell backward onto the floor. He looked up at her with his bored look displaying a tinge of annoyance.

"Fine," she began, her voice wavering as she looked down at him. "Let's talk."

He stood up, stepped inside her room and lied down across her bed before she had a chance to register his movements.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes wide with shock.

"Well I for one think I deserve to relax for belittling my pride like that. Then putting up with your temper tantrum, _and_ still have enough patience left over to try and talk to you over something as trivial as a se-"

"STOP!" she yelled, waving her hands in front of her as though she could blur up the sound waves. "Don't say it… please," she said looking away from him. He couldn't talk like that while he was in her room.

"Was it on the bed?" he asked smirking. Her face burned.

"What are you saying, do you want to go back to where we were before," she asked turning away from him.

"Where was it then?" he asked slowly. What was he doing? Messing with her like always?

"I, let you in here and this is how I'm repaid? Just leave," she said in exasperation.

At that moment Malfoy made a quick decision. If she just talked about it, she'd see it wasn't a big deal. See that it's not the end of the world. He sighed.

"Mine was in the shower…" He said trying his best to sound like he didn't care about what he was saying. Hermione slowly turned around. "It started on the kitchen counter,"

"You can't be serious?" Hermione scoffed.

"The one before that was in my bedroom back at the manor." he said looking up at her, "it's no big deal. People have sex dreams sometimes." He couldn't believe he was having this conversation right now. He felt like he was talking to his teenage daughter about the birds and the bees. It was ridiculous for any grown women to need this kind of speech to comfort her. Like having hormones was a crime or a sin.

Hermione sat beside him on the bed and took a deep breath. "The…couch." she answered. And he had to hold back his smile.

"By the fire? How romantic," he said.

Hermione laughed and shoved him. He was her friend after all she'd decided and she could talk to him about this kind of thing. He wasn't Ron or Harry, they were immature. He was more like Ginny about these things. Open, except better because he was an actual guy who had this stuff happen on a regular basis. She just tried to forget that he was Malfoy and focus on the great conversations they'd had, and on the fact that it was nice spending time with him, well, for the most part. Yeah, he's a friend, she convinced herself. If she was being honest with herself she'd admit that she was accepting things a lot easier partly because she missed having friends. But she wasn't being honest.

"No fire." she answered. "you…came here to ask why I wasn't at dinner…" she began.

Draco hadn't asked for a whole recap but he wasn't about to stop her. It's all he wanted to know about since she mentioned it in her drunken rant.

She shook her head out of embarrassment. "I've never had that happen before."

"What happen?" he asked, losing place as she jumped from one thing to another.

"You know, that kind of dream…" she said her head bowed and her hair draping over her face.

"Well, I'm sure it happens to the most reserved of women after they come in contact with me," he joked and Hermione laughed feeling better with his light hearted mood in the room. "No, I'm serious, even a nun would fall victim."

He could see that she had visibly relaxed and he was anxious for her to continue. She fell back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Well it was because of that stupid joke you pulled in Hogsmead," she continued, and Malfoy, sighed. Joke? (He had been quite serious…) "Well I hate to say it but you were right about that whole show of power thing. I've never had anyone do something like that to me. I've always been with people who let me make the first move." He wanted to show her what he could really do. Was it him or was being on this bed with her a bad idea. He was defiantly having some sort of personality shift here.

"So," she went on, "I kept thinking of how it would feel to have someone be aggressive with me, and I didn't like the idea. You forced me on the couch and I was scared and struggling, you know, but you didn't stop," she said with a sigh, and suddenly he was aware of the transition from teen daughter talking to hot professor fantasizing about him. "And then you were holding me by the wrists and I liked how you were way stronger than me. And every time I tried to tell you to stop my voice was all weak, and it was making me so angry until you got my pants off and…" Hermione suddenly felt subconscious.

How could she stop there? He should really not be on this bed. He watched her try to find the words to use to describe what he'd done to her and she bit at her lower lip. Her arms were above her head and her hair was splayed out. He should really sit on the floor, or the chair at her desk.

"It's too embarrassing," she finally decided and then sat up looking up at him.

She had to tell him what happened. Should he ask, and press her on? He hadn't been this eager since he was attending Hogwarts. Well he'd never had to wait for someone before. What was wrong with him. He was definitely not using his brain right now. The blood flow had been relocated until further notice.

"Malfoy?" She asked. He seemed really spaced out. She'd never seen him like this. Maybe she shouldn't have told him, it was probably really awkward or something. They'd only been talking regularly for a few days and she was acting like they were lifelong friends. They were still on a last names bases.

Malfoy woke himself up.

"Sorry, Granger," he said.

"No I'm sorry. I got a bit carried away," she said standing up. "We, should go down to dinner before it's over." She smiled, and he was pretty sure that it was the first time she'd smiled like that. Because he was curious, and also because he need to stall for time before he got up, he asked about it.

"Why the big smile? Something change?"

"You could say that." She said "I want to thank you for listening to me. Even when I was being insufferable," she blushed.

_My pleasure_, he thought. Wow, seriously he needed to rein himself in. This wasn't him at all.

"No, problem," he said.

"You even told me the dreams about that girl you like," She said, and he laughed. _'The girl he liked_…' he sighed inwardly.

"It's okay." he shrugged then stood from the bed and stretched, feeling back to normal.

As they left her rooms and headed for the stairs Hermione laughed out loud.

"You lost it Granger?" he asked smiling at her new mood, she'd never been this open around him, her guard was completely down. It was nice.

"No, not yet Draco." she smiled. "I've just decide something."

Malfoy stopped. "What's with the Draco thing? don't call me that, it's not right. " He said, feeling suddenly uncomfortably.

"Well _Draco_, if we're going to be friends than we should move on to a first name bases, don't you think?" she asked getting a wonderful thrill at having finally unnerved him.

"No, _Granger_." He said dragging out her name." We shouldn't.

"Draco?" she looked up at him and he shuddered. There was something sickening and annoying in the tone of voice she used to say his name and it irked him. He wasn't going to answer to that.

"Draco?" she said again loving the look of anger that was washing over his face. "You just going to ignore me Draco?"

He continued to walk trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Before this moment, having a first name kind of relationship with her had never come up, but he didn't think he'd mind it so much. Then it slapped him in the face and he stopped dead in his tracks.

'_Draco, if we're going to be friends'_

'_we're going to be friends'_

'_be friends'_

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

How the hell did he end up in the friend zone from discussing her sex dream about him? What the hell had he done? Is that what he sounded like up there, like a friend? He was going for concerned fellow teacher you may be interested in, in the coming weeks. Not friends.

It sounded so bad because it was pretty much like she was calling him Ron or Harry. With that perky light hearted, 'you'll never be _that_ kind of mate,' tone. After all the things he'd said to her earlier.

He wanted to shake her and ask her what she was thinking. He'd made it painstakingly obvious these past few days. He'd done as McGonagall had told him. To stop trying to get her attention by childishly sending angry students to her class, to just talk to her and be himself. What the hell was wrong with her?

"I can't believe you," He said looking angry and Hermione backed away from him.

"It's just a name," She retorted on the defensive again.

"No, not that," he said stepping up to her as she took another step back. Her face a mixture of fear and excitement. And then Malfoy realized his problem. He had been being too nice. Of course. She need him to be aggressive. She was attracted to _that _Malfoy.

"Malfoy?" She said weakly her panic lodged in her throat.

That was better. Back to the last name. He could be mean if it's what he needed to do. He turned away from her and walked away, feeling like he should be in a better mood now that he knew how to get her, but he wasn't.

He'd just have to actually think this one out, as much as he hated the thought of that. Planning and plotting had always led him wrong, that's why he went with natural flow of things now. But he wanted her and that meant he couldn't be her friend. So instead, he'd go back to being her enemy. That was who she wanted him to be. McGonagall told him to be himself, and he would be. All of it.

**Anyway, I'm sorry for all of you who love my Draco, but it's time for him to make a change if he wants to get Hermione. **

**I'm prepared for the hate, but I promise that he'll still be the Draco you know deep down. ^_^**

**I know it's sad but what else could he have done? _Tell her the truth?_ Well then we wouldnt have an interesting story... **


	7. Balance Friendship and Jealousy

**Alright, Here It is, I'm not all that trilled with this chapter but I had to lay a bit of a foundation for the field trip. It was tough to give Draco a balance and so in this chapter that what he's searching for. his balance.  
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**Anyway, I managed to get one of my drawings up on my Deviant art. I really never upload there but I'm going to start trying to get stuff up from now on.**

**If you missed the memo in the last authors note, I'll be drawing fan art of my own story and if you want to check out a scene from the third chapter Qudditch match.**

LifesADarkArt on Deviantart

(fanfiction won't let me post links)

**So copy paste that and check it out.**

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As for the story, I got some mixed reactions for the last chapter and let me tell you, it was hard not to write in a snogging scene, so hard in fact that I actually wrote one out before I decided it was too cliched and deleted it. Remember Draco is a normal guy in this story and what normal guy do you know just starts making out on someone like that. I WISH! But I assure you things will get steamier from here. ^_^  
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**But no really, he was too angry to do anything like that at the moment and I felt like by him just walking away it would make a bigger impression on Hermione. **

**Come on guy's, I'm trying to set this fanfiction apart so don't get too sad when I don't go for the obvious. ^_^ **

**As for the whole 'Inter house' thing. (sheepish smile) Yes, I know what it means, but at the time, I was writting the first chapter out of boredom and wasn't expecting much to come of it. By the time I noticed the mistake, I had a small following and didn't bother changing it, assuming that ppl didn't really care because no one else had said anything. Sorry... **

**Anyway, Read and Review. And let me know what you think about this chapter.**

**Balance Friendship And Jealousy

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Interhouse Relations

Chapter 7

"Professor Granger, you idiot," Danielle explained to Tanner as they entered the library. Tanner bowed his head solemnly recalling the state that the professor had been in for the past few days.

"She's like a zombie," he compared and it was spot on. "So it was because of Professor Malfoy?" he asked.

"I think so." Danielle didn't know for sure if that were true but it would also explain Professor Malfoy's dark mood.

"He's been being a real evil bastard lately, I mean really it's scary," Tanner said, a shiver going down his spine. "He ought to just make amends if it's putting him in this foul a mood. I mean no sense in dragging it on," Tanner decided, nodding his head at his own good judgment, when Danielle nudged him hard in the ribs.

He looked up to tell her to watch it, when he saw Professor Malfoy glaring down at the both of them from the doorway of the library. Tanner cleared his throat and put a hand up in greeting, "Afternoon Professor," he smiled up at him awkwardly.

Malfoy glared a little longer before he decided that wringing a student's neck wasn't a good idea, so instead he walked past the two students and continued down the hall to his room. He heard Flores let out a breath of relief as he past and Marcy mumbled something about 'dodging the bullet'.

He felt like an idiot. How could he have fifth years walking around giving advice he'd already heard from Hagrid, McGonagall, the Bloody Baron and even, in the most annoying manner, Peeves the poltergeist. Wasn't it enough? He knew that Granger was moping around the castle, he didn't have to be reminded of who'd caused it. He knew, he'd been there after all.

All week she'd made attempts at talking to him and every time he'd either walked away or ignored her. Let's make one thing clear. It had been for her own protection against his wrath. Ever since that night in her room, he couldn't even look at her without getting pissed, and then it pissed him off that he was pissed, and she would get pissed about his reaction to her and it would piss him off even more for her to think she had any right to be pissed at him. He didn't know if that made any sense, but it was crystal clear to him and that's all that mattered.

You may have guessed, but there was more to it than that. It wasn't just her presence that was getting to him. He'd been having this strange dream. It was so embarrassing that he'd prefer not to think about it, (but since there's no other way for you to understand…) he thought back to the dream in anger.

It started in Granger's living area. He'd toss her on the couch and as he held her down, she would tell him to stop in a scared little whisper that begged for him to continue. Then everything would change.

They'd be lying in a field of flowers, she would laugh in a giggly, girly tone, push him off of her and stand up in the knee high grass with a huge smile. Then Potter and Weasley would walk up beside her and the three of them would be smiling down at him as Granger reached out her hand to help him up.

"Come on," she'd say, "we can't go without you."

"Why?" he asked not understanding why they would need his companionship. And she'd look down at him with a hurt and confused face.

"You're my best friend Draco," she'd say and a tear would run down her face.

Then he'd wake up.

It was disturbing and he could hardly blame Granger for his subconscious mind and it's evil antics, but it didn't stop him from not ever wanting to see that happen in real life. So he was avoiding her like a coward, as though a field of flowers would magic itself into the castle and the nightmare would become real.

The strange part about all this, was the fact that she didn't run. He was intimidating and yet she kept coming back for more of his death glares and shunning. Everyday she'd try to strike up a conversation or work up the courage to ask him what was wrong, what she had done. Whenever he was around she'd smile at him in hopes of getting one back, and she wouldn't stop smiling until he turned away sometimes. He felt like shit.

But then he remembered that she was treating him like someone trying to get their friend back after a row and he wasn't about to fall into that trap. He wasn't going to be her friend.

As of right now, he couldn't be her friend even if he wanted to. Friends don't constantly think of wanting to force themselves on you every time you're around, or wanting to hate her for choosing this time to be so dim and not understanding his feelings for her. My god, he'd practically told her and the prefects that she was the women he was going to marry some day and she'd come away from it thinking that… well he didn't know what, but it wasn't what he wanted.

He entered his room and went straight for the bed. He was exhausted from all the, having to hold back his anger and not take it out on kids thing, he'd been doing all day. He hadn't had to be this cautious of his temper in a long time. In fact he hadn't had a temper at all in a long time.

If he recalled he'd taken this job for that very reason. Without his mother and her advisors around he'd had a chance for a piece of calm solitude. He'd come here as a sort of anger management and was more than pleased to sit beside Granger at the entrance ceremony. If he had to choose from the trio, he'd take seeing her over them any day, because he knew that of all of them, she would be the one to give him a chance. In turn she was the only one he was sure he could tolerate.

Then just as he had expected, she turned to him the first night with a forced smile and lied to his face. _'Good to see you again Malfoy' _is what she'd said, and at the sight of her effort, he'd done a poor job of holding in a chuckle as he answered honestly, _'Good to see you too.'_

At the time he hadn't really put much thought into it, but it was one of the first non anger filled moments he'd had after the war. His mother was still in the process of sorting out whether or not she was happy, or upset with Draco for turning his father over to the authorities when Lucious had tried to go into hiding before his formal hearing.

These past years, living with her had been nothing but mentally stressful. He thought back to Hermione asking him why he didn't just ditch the country. True, he had all the money he needed, but he was afraid to leave his mother alone to her thoughts. In fact, Hogwarts was as far away from her as he was allowing himself to be. His mother was sane by all means, but if he went any further, he was sure that she would decide, with the help of her 'friends', that her son was the cause of her woes.

And maybe it was true, but he'd be damned if he was going to let those money loving hags convince his mother of it. He loved her and if she came to the decision that she never wanted to see his face again, he'd accept it as long as it was no one's choice but her own.

He shut his eyes, shook his head and gritted his teeth, running his hand halfway through his hair before fisting a hand full. He really wasn't helping his situation by thinking about his home life. He needed to focus on the here and now. At least he had the power to fix _this_ problem. He _would_ fix this. When he opened his eye he realized he didn't have far to go to start. His problem was standing in the doorway.

He groaned and sat up. Thinking about that field of flowers he clenched his jaw and frowned up at her.

"What do you want now? Come to ask about the weather?" he asked condescendingly. She winced at his tone, but it didn't stop her from entering his room and sitting at his desk. With her back to him she pulled open his drawer, pulled out some of his parchment and a quill. She uncorked his bottle of ink and began writing.

Draco sat there waiting for her to try again, she always did.

"Emon?" she asked, and he was caught off guard. When he didn't answer she continued, "A third year Hufflepuff girl?" she said and he realized she was asking for a partner for Emon Ahmad. He lied back down on his bed, putting his forearm over his eyes, to stop the light from coming through his eyelids. He knew full well that she could do the roster herself if she had to, and that she was using it as an excuse to speak to him. And the truth was that he wanted to talk to her too. He sighed still unable to not be mad with her, he didn't want to give in and start laughing it up with her like old chaps.

She sat there waiting. He peeked at her from his arm and saw that she hadn't moved and it made him angry. Her just sitting there waiting on him. He needed to get a grip. Not only was he mad about everything she did, now he was mad about what she wasn't doing. He sighed, "Stephanie Arango." he said, and heard her scratch the quill across the paper.

"Tyler Shultz," Granger continued in monotone and Malfoy tried not to be annoyed.

"Karen Simons," he said and decided that as long as she didn't try to chat him up, he could handle a bit of school duties with her. Besides, the field trip was tomorrow and McGonagall was already on his back about the Granger situation, he didn't want to add to it that he hadn't helped with the roster he'd asked permission to redo.

They sat there for an hour repeating the process and he was glad when he was sure there weren't many names left and she could get out. He couldn't take another second of this.

"Devlin Corrigan," She said and her voice trembled a bit.

He lifted his arm off his eye's and watched as her shoulders shook. Was she…? He sat up. "Michelle Samson." he said.

"Lorenzo Jones," her voice cracked and he couldn't believe this. She was crying.

"Vanessa Charles," he said ignoring her and lying back down and waited for the next name but she didn't speak. "Are we done?" he asked not masking his annoyance.

Hermione stood from the chair and swallowed hard before answering.

"Not yet," she said and looked at him for the first time since she'd been there. She sighed and sat at the foot of his bed. "I'm sorry," she said defeated.

"Sorry?" Draco asked skeptically not bothering to look at her.

"For whatever I did." She elaborated and he scoffed.

"You don't even know what you did. Why should I except that?" he asked darkly sitting up to look at her. He didn't want to have this conversation.

"I've thought about it over again and again," she began then lowered her voice, "and I can't figure out what I did. So why don't you just tell me?" She said sounding as though she were trying not to yell at him.

He ran a hand trough his hair and tried to stay calm. He couldn't tell her. His stupid pride wouldn't let him. Besides he felt like if he told her now, he'd stay in the friend zone because of her view of him at the moment. She hadn't really done anything wrong and he couldn't figure out why he was so upset. He just wanted to- but then he realized the problem, he was holding himself back.

Why not just do what he wanted? He should stop restricting himself. He hadn't restricted himself since he got to Hogwarts and it had served him well. He didn't want to keep thinking about everything before he did it, he wanted to go back to saying whatever, whenever. It was easier that way. He needed a balance.

Trying to ignore her was making him angry, being around her was making him frustrated, and being away from her was worse than anything. He wanted to just be himself but he couldn't be too nice to her either, though at the moment he didn't think that would be a problem, in fact, he didn't think it would ever be a problem again.

Hermione sighed. "Fine you don't have to tell me," she surrendered, "but can we at least just talk. Not about what you're mad about, just anything?" she asked, looking away from him.

He wanted to talk, so he didn't try to fight her. "About what?" he asked and she contemplated that.

"How are things with that girl you like?" she asked and he stared at her in disbelief.

"Not too good," he mumbled.

"Why?" she asked in shock.

"She's kind of dimwitted and I don't think she understands what I want." he said through gritted teeth. Hermione sat awkwardly for a moment.

"Are you giving up?" she asked.

"Maybe…" he said glaring at her.

"You should try harder, she'll come around." She tried to smile and he'd had enough.

"You should go," he said lying back down to keep himself in check. Hermione sat there not knowing what to do.

"Did you get into a fight?" She asked cautiously.

He'd given her a chance and she hadn't taken it, he wasn't going to hold back anymore. Whatever happened next would be entirely her fault.

"Yeah, she really did a number on me," he said with a smirk as he sat up.

"Well maybe," Hermione started, feeling uncomfortable with the look he was giving her, "you should just owl her and get everything in order," she said.

He smiled at her, she'd apparently ruled out the possibility that it could be her or anyone at Hogwarts.

"Maybe…" he started, "You could console me," and Hermione seeing his dark smile edged away a bit.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything, it wasn't my place," she said. "I should go, I've still got plenty of papers to grade," she tried, standing up from the bed. Draco caught her arm.

"No, stay," he said with a dark laugh pulling her back down on the bed. "You wanted to talk, and now that I am, you're trying to run away?" he asked.

"No, I just…" she mumbled, looking down at the hold he had on her arm.

"Just what?" he asked when she trailed off.

"Well, I just thought you wanted your space," she said not looking at him.

"Rubbish," he laughed "that hasn't stopped you from pestering me all week," he said and pulled her up by the wrist to sit beside him against the headboard. He looked down at her and she blushed. "Talk," he commanded.

"I don't know what to say," she said sheepishly, looking down at her hands. He sighed.

"We don't have to talk, there are plenty of other ways that you can make me feel better," he said calmly, with his head rested back on the head board and eyes closed. She shifted beside him, and he wondered what she was thinking.

"Malfoy, I should go," she mumbled, but she didn't move away from him. This is what she liked he thought. He smiled down at her and her face went red.

"It's okay if you don't know what to do, I can show you," he whispered. Hermione hopped up from the bed then looked at him in shock.

"Don't say things like that," she huffed. He pulled himself up from the bed and stood in front of her.

"Why not?" he asked. And she took a step back from him.

"We're Professors," she stated firmly.

"What do I care?" he asked with a laugh as he stepped closer.

"You also have someone," she added.

"We're not technically dating, let alone exclusive, now are we?" he said then motioned with his hand for her to try again.

"We're just friends," she said looking away from him and he stopped dead in his tracks.

He'd already decided not to hold back and that whatever happened, she warranted it. And this was no exception. He backed her to the writing desk letting his anger fill him.

He looked down at her wide eyed expression. "I'm not your bloody friend," He said threateningly. She looked hurt by the words and then unexpectedly her hurt became anger.

"Then just what are you?" she said standing to her full height and looking him in the eyes. He took a step back, he hadn't expected that and he didn't know what to say. She pushed him backward hard and he fell back on the bed. "I don't know what I did to you Malfoy," she began as she stood over him, "But you're not going to fool me with this stupid act of yours," she yelled.

He tried to sit up but she put a hand on his chest and pushed him back down, one knee between his legs and the other leg off the bed, she leaned down close.

"I'm your friend now, so you can just get over it," she said hovering above him in such a position that it made him not even mind her words so much, "You shouldn't do things like this. I know she hurt you but you can't go flirting with me to get over it."

His mind was shuffling around, trying to make sense of her words.

"What?" he asked confused.

"You should be trying to reconcile with her, not rebound," she said and he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "It's not fun when you're mad at someone, so I've learned this week. So I can only imagine how bad she must feel right now."

This couldn't be happening. His own spur of the moment, half lie, was coming back to bite him in the ass. "Granger," he began but she cupped her hand over his mouth.

"I don't want to hear it, you had better be nice and help her understand how you feel if she doesn't get it," she said then released his mouth. It was bad enough that he was hearing it from fifth years, but he never thought he'd be getting advice from Hermione on how to get with her. It was almost funny.

"I have a question," he said, and Hermione frowned.

"What?" she asked and then let out a small yelp as he took her hips and turned her over so the position was reversed. In her shock she'd thrown both her arm around his neck and tucked her face in his chest putting them a lot closer than before.

He laughed and she immediately released him but he didn't move away when she did. He lowered his head to her ear.

"Tell me," he started, "is that the kind of man you prefer? The nice type?" he asked in a whisper. And Hermione could hear the amusement in his voice. She lifted her arms and she didn't know if she were going to push him a way or pull him closer, either way he caught her movements and stop her hands with his own. "Give me an answer," he whispered.

"Draco," she said quietly, and he didn't mind the way it sounded one bit. "Off," was all she could manage, and he was satisfied with that as her answer. He stood up and pulled her up right.

Her face was red and he smirked at her. With any luck she'd be having more sex dreams about him. And this time he wouldn't help her with talk, but action.

Maybe he'd been wrong about being her enemy. Perhaps all she needed was little seductive push in the right direction. He didn't have to be bad and he didn't have to be good, he could be himself with an emphases on his aggressive charm. He was feeling incredibly better, and even the whole being friends thing wasn't seeming too bad. In fact it was an open invitation to spend time with her. And with this fieldtrip coming up the future was looking bright.

Hermione smacked him hard on the arm, and he was brought back to the present.

"Wipe that smirk of your face," she said but she was smiling up at his better mood, "and stop joking around with me like that," she added her face going red.

'_Who's joking?_'

"Hey, it's perfectly normal for you to have enjoyed that," he laughed. "No need to pretend," he said and she smacked him again.

"That's definitely not the point," she said, getting up and gathering the papers from his desk. He laughed.

"Not going to deny that you enjoyed it?" he asked and she froze for a second then continued her task ignoring him. He smirked.

She put his things back in their place and he walked to the door with his hand on the small of her back. She all but jumped past the threshold once they reached the corridor.

"I'll take these to McGonagall," she said then lingered for a moment trying to put something together. When finally she had it worked out, she took a deep breath. "I'm glad I could help you out Draco," she said and he took note of the change in the way she said his name. "And I hope you work things out with-" then she paused. "Can I know her name? I feel rude referring to her as 'that girl.'" she said frowning.

He stood there for a moment and then said the first random name that came to mind.

"Rebecca." he said.

Hermione nodded with a faltering smile, "Well I hope you fix everything up with Rebecca," she said, and took off down the corridor. The strange tone in her voice didn't go unnoticed, and Draco smiled at her retreating figure.

Hermione walked down the hall trying to figure out why knowing Rebecca's name was bothering her so much. She couldn't stop thinking about it. She didn't know this women but she felt annoyed with the mere thought of her. She wondered how they'd met. What kind of amazing person she had to be to have _Malfoy_ fall for her, him getting all upset over the things she did. It made her mad. She wondered if they'd even had sex…

Hermione was about to turn a corner but stopped when she heard voices arguing.

"But she's really bloody hot!" said a male voice Hermione recognized as Spencer Nix. A Slytherin fifth year. "As your best friend I wouldn't steer you wrong. She's the one."

"No, Nix, she's a mudblood," said Damien's cool voice.

"How long are you going to keep up that charade?" Spencer scoffed. "Let's get serious shall we," he laughed. "The truth of the matter is that she's unbelievably hot, smart, witty, a damn good chaser and your completely _smitten_ with her," He said and Hermione could hear the smile on his lips.

"Look, I'm not about to have this conversation, Nix," Damien said through gritted teeth.

"Well, I am," Spencer began. "Did you think I didn't see the look on your face when Flores put his arm around her in the library? You looked like you wanted to rip him in half."

"I always look like that with him, what's your point?" Damien said sounding exasperated.

"Don't act all blasé, you didn't want him touching Marcy," Spencer said, "you were completely jealous."

"Jealous?" Damien asked in disbelief. "Your full of shit."

"Yeah, I'm the one _full of shit_," he mimicked, sarcasm drenching every word. "Damien, you've liked her ever since the first game of the year, when she scored that first shot on you. Ever since then all you do is complain about her to me, then you unconsciously walk the long way to class on Thursdays just to get a glimpse of her, lying to yourself saying it's just a chance to throw in an insult her way. Cornering her whenever you get the chance to be alone, doing something stupid, then moping around the common room when you make her cry," Spencer shook his head in disbelief at how Damien could deny what was so painfully obvious. "Getting pissed off when she's with Flores? Tell me Scott, what do you think that is mate?" Spencer asked.

Damien had no answer so Spencer continued.

"When I say the name Flores, do you get angry at just the mention of him? Do you imaging him touching her? Do you become upset at the thought that he can touch her and that she may enjoy it? Do you hate that he spends all day with her and you're barley able to speak to her, and even then it's only petty bickering? Do you find yourself imagining what things would be like if you stole her away? If she'd laugh the way she does with him, with you?" Spencer gave pause and the other boy didn't speak, but whatever he did, or perhaps more of what he didn't say, vindicated Spencer's words.

"That mate, is jealousy." He finished.

Then Hermione listened as one pair of footsteps descended down the hall.

Spencer sighed and walked to catch up to his friend.

Hermione stood behind the wall pondering Spencer's last words. She'd had those emotions only once in her life and it had only been a few minutes previous. She hadn't been able to place those feelings, but now she was sure. She was jealous of the faceless Rebecca.

**Okay, hand me my ass and tell me how much you hated it, flames welcome. I'll try harder on the next one I promise. ^_^**

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	8. Comeing To Terms With Truth

**Okay! This chapter is for all of you begging to hear more about Danielle and Damien. **

**I put a bunch of point a views in here so you wont get bored, and don't worry, it doesn't get confusing either. **

**I hope to get plenty of reviews for this chapter. So let me know if I made up for the last chapter.**

**BTW 100 reviews! ^_^**

**Thanks to you guys who also checked out my other stories 'What Fanfiction Writers and readers want' and reviewed them.**

**Glad to make ppl laugh with a quick one shot.**

**Coming To Terms With Truth

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Interhouse Relations

Chapter 8

Damien hated his father right now, more than he ever thought it possible to loath anyone bound to you by blood. His father and his muggle loving ways…

He sat in a compartment of the Hogwarts Express on his way to a bloody muggle camp for the weekend. If his mother were still alive…he shook his head clear, he'd thought those words on more than a few occasions. The truth was that she wasn't still alive, and even if she were, he didn't know that he wouldn't be in the exact same place as he was now.

Nellie Scott, was a devoted mother, and though Damien had only memories of her from a child's point of view, he was sure that exaggerations in those memories didn't exist. When he was younger his mother would tell him stories of a man who wanted freedom for wizard kind. A visionary, that felt pure bloods were above all magical beings. She would tell him that one day he would free them of their bonds and cast mudbloods and half-breeds out of their pure society. She said that her son would live free of going to school with lesser people.

Damien couldn't understand it really, but he was happy when she told him stories of this great and powerful wizard, because _she_ was happy. And he lived to see her smile.

"Don't fill our son's head with that trash," his father whispered one night when they thought that he was in bed.

"What happened to you Gregory?" his mother hissed, "how can you doubt our lords power this way?"

"We were silly children then and It has nothing to do with him," Gregory said.

"Then tell me, what is it to do with?" Nellie asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"Things have changed Nellie and we can't expect them to go back to how they used to be. Just like you can't expect me to want to share such a childish point of view with our son," he said trying to keep his voice down.

"Oh, of course," Nellie began sarcastically, "now that you work with all of your mudblood friends at the ministry, you can't be expected to up hold tradition." she scoffed.

"Tradition?" he repeated skeptically, "It's ignorance, Nellie. Not tradition. And maybe you'd know that if you left the house every once in a while, instead of trying to hide our son away from the truth that we aren't any better than the others," his father yelled.

"But we are Greg," Nellie replied coolly, "They're just to blind to see it. Our blood is what has brought the wizarding world to where it is now and I'll share that belief with my son, and our grandchildren for as long as I live."

Which wasn't very long, Damien thought darkly. So it turned out that his mother was right about one thing, her dark lord did come back.

"Nellie, we have to hide, we can't go back to that life, we have a child now," Greg pleaded holding his wife's hands in his own. Damien watched as his mother without a second thought, snatched her hands away and answered.

"This is what I've been waiting for and I'll be damned if my Damien won't be by my side to witness history." She said and Damien looked up at his mother with a smile.

Greg looked crest fallen, "I don't want to lose you, but I won't let you do this to our son. When are you going to realize that you've brain washed him. The Nix's are going overseas with Spencer to stay neutral and that's where my son and I will be if you want to find us," he said and made to grab Damien's hand but Damien pulled away and ran to stand beside his mother.

"I want to stay with mum." said the ten year old Damien and was proud when his mother put her arm around him to hold him close.

"I promise you Greg," His mother began in a trembling voice as tears welled up in her eyes, "I won't let anything happen to our son. He'll be safer here than on the run with you and you know it. I won't force you to stay, and after everything is settled you'll still be my husband with a place in this house and in my heart. So go if you need to, but please let my son stay here to see what his mother believes in."

His father stood there and took in her words. Finally he nodded. He walk over to them and bent down to hold him tight and Damien held him back. He loved his father and knew that it may be a long time before he saw him again, but he wanted to make his mother happy.

Then Greg stood up and he and Nellie kissed more passionately then Damien could ever remember. And it was the last kiss they ever shared.

His mother had been right about one thing in her life, and wrong about everything she ever taught him. She died in the battle of Hogwarts when he was a first year. Then in his second year he met a mudblood for the first time, Danielle Marcy. And she was better than him at everything.

"Looks like you were wrong about that too mum," Damien whispered as the scenery flew by outside the window.

The compartment door slid open and Damien looked up to see Spencer in the doorway looking overly excited. Knowing that his friend was up to something he sighed, getting ready for the inevitable.

"Oi mate," Spencer began. "Look who I found in the corridor on the way back from the bathroom." He moved aside and behind him stood Marcy. Damien sighed, and continued to stare out of the window.

Danielle was cursing herself for letting Nix talk her into this. He'd come into her compartment out of breath as though he'd been up and down the train a few times.

_(Flash Back)_

"Marcy!" he said throwing the door open, "About bloody time, I need to borrow you for a moment if that's okay?" he'd asked.

And by all means it was okay. If she had to choose a Slytherin to be looking for her, Nix would be the one. He was kind and had never spoken a wrong word about heritage to anyone. He made friends with everyone and was just too damn charismatic to send away, Slytherin or not. Most of the females had crushes on him and though she was embarrassed by it, she was no exception. So she exited her booth with him.

Yes, it was hard to turn him away, but if she'd know that he was asking her help for his not so charismatic best friend, she may have mustered up the courage to do it.

"Help with what?" she'd asked skeptically.

"With his defective personality of course," he'd laughed.

If it had been anybody else trying to convince her that Damien Scott had a heart, she'd have laughed in their face. But this wasn't just anyone. Nix was an honest guy to the core. A bit sly and cryptic with his words, but he'd been known to trick people into doing things that always turned out to have good intentions behind them.

"So," she'd began, after giving up on him telling her what he was really up to, "you want me to just go back with you to your compartment and talk?" she clarified skeptically.

"That's it, the rest should just fall into place on its own," he laughed, "You'd be doing, not only me, a good service, but the entire school if you could get Damien to get with the times."

"I guess," she agreed, not sure of what she was getting herself into.

"Yeah, one more thing," Nix added, and she looked at him to continue. "You mind calling me Spencer?"

Now here she was, part of some, better the world plan that Spencer Nix had cooked up.

Nix sat opposite Scott and waved her into the room. Danielle frowned noticing that the seat beside Nix was filled with baggage leaving only the seat beside Scott open. Scott soon realized this too, and lied himself across the seat closing his eyes as though he were going to take a nap.

Spencer smiled up at her and she couldn't see what was so funny.

"Here Danielle, it's a tight squeeze but I'm sure you can nestle in beside me," Nix said, pulling her in by the wrist.

Damien tried to ignore what he'd just heard. He'd been friends with Nix since they were being potty trained and he had built up a pretty good immunity to his antics.

"Um, okay" Danielle replied and sat beside Nix. In the tiny space, half of her body was up against his and to make things even more uncomfortable he'd put his arm up on the back of the seat so she was leaning on him like they were a couple.

"So," Spencer began, "you're single right?"

Danielle couldn't believe his straightforwardness. She blushed.

"Why?" She mumbled.

"Just wondering," he replied with a smile as Damien turned over on the other seat so his back was facing them.

"Well, yeah, I am," she said. Is this what he'd come here to do? Embarrass her? Maybe she was too trusting of him.

"I see, I thought Flores and yourself were an item," he said and saw Damien's head turned a bit.

Danielle laughed, "No, not at all. We're just friends." She couldn't even think of him in that way, besides he was secretly dating the Slytherin girl he'd been paired with last week.

"Really? So what's your type?" he asked and she was starting to feel like she shouldn't have agreed to this but when he smiled at her and winked she continued.

"I don't have one really," she answered awkwardly.

"What do you think of me?" he asked, and Damien sat up in his seat shooting him a glare as Spencer smiled at him. Danielle sat there feeling like for some reason her answer might start a war if she wasn't careful. Well it figures that Scott wouldn't want his best friend dating a mudblood, she thought.

"Well," she contemplated, she honestly felt like he would make a great boyfriend, but if she said that, she was pretty sure that Scott would make her life a living hell. Was this his plan? To fake ask her out, so his friend would have to accept her and other muggleborns or something? She looked up and saw that Damien was glaring at Nix from across the compartment.

"Just be honest," Spencer told her, ignoring Scott and she took a deep breath.

"You're nice and all, Spencer…" she began, and saw Damien's jaw clench at her use of his friends first name, "And almost every girl in school has a crush on you, you know," she laughed awkwardly, trying to make her answer as casual as possible.

"Dose that exclude you?" he asked and her face went red.

"Well," She started but was cut short when Scott stood from his seat and pulled Nix up by his shirt collar.

Spencer laughed, "What's wrong mate? Was there something you wanted to say?" he asked smiling at Damien.

Damien released his shirt and sat back down staring out of the window. Spencer cleared his throat and looked down at Danielle mouthing the word 'thanks' before he spoke aloud.

"Sorry about that Danielle," he said, then took her hand and pulled her up from the seat. "Let's continue this conversation while I walk you back to your compartment. Could you wait in the hall for a moment while I have a word with Scott," he said and Danielle nodded before leaving the compartment.

Spencer sat beside Damien and sighed.

"I'm going to ask her out," he said and Damien tensed. "If I leave this compartment, by the time I get back, she and I will have snogged, I guarantee it mate," he continued with a dazed smile as though imagining it. "If _I_ walk her back, you won't have a chance with her."

There was a long pause and finally Damien growled in annoyance. He stood from his seat running a hand through his hair and looking at Spencer with annoyance before opening the door to the compartment and looking down at Marcy.

"Come on," he said, grabbing her wrist and dragging her away while she sent a pleading look at Spencer, who only smiled and waved good bye.

The door closed and Spencer sighed, "That's it mate, swallow your pride," he smiled.

Hermione groaned in frustration reaching for her bag in the overhead. The train had arrived at the camp and everyone was making their way to the exits of the train. It hadn't ever occurred to her to wonder where the Hogwarts Express went after it left Hogwarts, but apparently it went anywhere you needed it to go at long as you laid the track. It had been a long ride and all she wanted was to get off this train and get into a warm cabin. It was too cold to be camping.

The snow was thick here in the mountains and she was sure that no one was going to want to be out in this weather. But maybe McGonagall had counted on everyone feeling that way and staying locked up in their cabins with the people they hated most, around a fire telling ghost stories. Hermione didn't even know anymore. The headmistress was in a league of her own.

"Here," a voice came from behind her. Hermione went rigid as Malfoy pressed his body against hers, reaching up and pulling her bag down with ease. He threw the bag over his shoulder and started out of the compartment before she could protest to him carrying her things.

As they exited the train they watched as the students trudged through the snow up a short path and followed. Finally they reached the arch at the front of the camp that welcomed them to Terry's. As soon as they walked past the threshold, the snow disappeared, and the sky looked clear.

Hermione looked up at Draco and he shrugged. The camp was under some sort of weather protection, and Hermione made a mental note to find out how it worked.

"Thought this place was supposed to be muggle," Draco said.

"It Is," came a voice from behind them. They turned to see a gruffly looking older man. He held out his hand to them, "I'm Terry, and this is my camp. I've heard a lot about the both of you from McGonagall," he said smiling at them with a child's mischievous grin.

"Um, nice to meet you," Hermione said, shaking the man's hand wondering what McGonagall could have said to him. The man made to shake Draco's hand next. Draco just stared down at it until Hermione nudged him with her elbow and gave him a look that said 'be nice,' before shaking the man's hand. What was he being cautious of?

"Ah," said McGonagall, approaching them. "I see you've met Terry," she started, then to both Hermione and Draco's shock the old man hugged her and she smiled.

"Minerva, it's been ages," he said.

"So it has Terry," McGonagall agreed with a wide smile. It had to be some sort of record for the biggest smile she'd ever used.

"Terry," McGonagall began, addressing the two dumbfounded professors, "was and old childhood friend," she said and the looks on both Draco and Hermione's faces warranted a cocked eyebrow from McGonagall.

Of course it was all out rude to suggest that McGonagall had never been a bubbly child with friends, but it was really quite hard to imagine. Terry, cleared his throat.

"I was born a squib," He began, to lessen the awkward feeling, "but luckily my folks knew some muggleborns who helped them enroll me into a muggle boarding school so I could have a normal life. Minerva and I were neighbors, so we saw each other during our summer vacations," he finished and Hermione smiled at Terry.

Most squibs didn't have the benefit of parents who knew muggles, so they often stayed in the wizarding world, with no education and shunned by wizards who didn't know how to treat someone without magical ability. Hermione thought of Filch and wondered what a difference it could make for squibs if wizards had a closer connection with the muggle world. Terry smiled back at Hermione and continued.

"So the magic put up around here was done by my younger brother, it won't keep the place completely warm but at least it'll keep the snow out, " he said. "The camp is usually only open during the summers, but I couldn't refuse a request from Minerva," he said then laughed, "I don't think there are many who can."

McGonagall gave him a pointed look and he cleared his throat before continuing.

"All the same, here we are," he clapped his hands together, "I'll show you to your cabins," he said then led the way into the camp.

A whole lot of walking and a bit of an excited tour from Terry later, they finally reached a small cabin.

It was the smallest cabin they'd seen so far and positioned in the far back of the camp grounds. Still it was cozy on the inside, with a little love seat in front of the fireplace a small bathroom and even a tiny kitchen.

They headed to the back of the cabin as Terry spoke.

"Sorry about sticking you with the tiniest cabin, with the whole of Hogwarts here, we were a little pressed for space. Well, here's the bedroom," he said opening a door to reveal two twin sized beds in the small room with only enough space left to just barely create a walkway between them.

"Wait," Hermione started, "Who's room is this?" she asked confused. And Terry turned to them in shock then looked to McGonagall who answered quickly.

"The two of you will be staying here together," she clarified and Hermione was taken aback. She and Draco were friends now, there was no reason to subject them to these types of things to make them talk.

"Professor," she began but McGonagall held up her hand.

"I'm sorry Miss Granger but this is the only lodging left. I'm afraid that I underestimated the living space we would have here. The students have all been separated by Boys and girls with two cabins each, it's a tight fit for everyone. You're both adults, I'm sure you can handle this for a weekend," she said unapologetically, "Now get your things squared away and be at the dining hall for lunch."

She started for the door but then turned around and held out her hand, "Wands please," she said and the two of them removed their wands from their pockets, handing them to the headmistress who then dropped them into a bag full of the students wands before leaving with Terry. Hermione couldn't believe she was treating them like this. Besides, didn't McGonagall know that Draco was involved with someone right now?

Malfoy on the other hand was disguising how ecstatic he was with this development. When he'd spoken to McGonagall this morning to let her know the he and Granger had made amends, she had answered, saying that, if they hadn't by now then they surely would have by the end of the trip. At the time he hadn't understood. She'd planned this for them to reconcile but it would come in handy for other things too he was sure. He looked over to see Granger moping on her bed.

"Is it that bad?" he asked and she woke from her daze.

"Oh, no I suppose not," she sighed, blushing with her gaze turned away from him. He wanted to know what she was thinking. He sat beside her on the bed and looked her in the face.

"Then?" he asked. Hermione felt stupid and angry and said the first thing that came to mind.

"It's just that I'm sure Rebecca wouldn't want you rooming with another woman," she said stupidly and couldn't believe her own tone of voice. She didn't understand why she was so angry, it's not like she should care, if Draco didn't.

Draco looked at her in shock. What was that, he wondered than smiled devilishly.

"Don't worry Granger, I'll owl her a.s.a.p. if you think she'll be more comfortable knowing," he said and stood from the bed. Hermione wanted to die.

Did it sound like she was concerned with Rebecca's feelings? Then she tried to get a grip. She _should_ be concerned with her feelings, after all Hermione was just that kind of person. Helping where help was needed, and if her boyfriend was ever in this kind of situation, she'd want to know. Hermione sighed.

"Good," she answered and Draco tried not to laugh.

"Well," he began, "I'm going to take a shower before lunch," he said and then pulled his shirt over his head and Hermione tried not to gawk but it was hopeless. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a rolled up towel before he turned to her and smiled at her expression. Hermione, with effort turned her reddening face away.

"You know Granger," he said while in the doorway, "if you knew Rebecca, I'm sure she'd tell you that she didn't mind this situation one bit," he laughed as he exited the room.

What was that supposed to mean, Hermione thought in anger. That she wasn't attractive enough, that Draco could like her? So Rebecca had nothing to worry about? Or that, even if something happened it would never compare to her?

Hermione shook her head, she really hated what she was being like right now. It wasn't right for her to ogle at him and she had no right to think those things about Rebecca. What if Draco was saying that if she and Rebecca ever met, they'd get along. That Rebecca would know how trustworthy Hermione was, and that Hermione would never do anything to jeopardize Draco's and her relationship. Okay now she felt like a total bitch.

The worst part is that she wasn't sure that she wouldn't jeopardize them anymore. Not because she wanted too, but because jealousy was making her do things she'd never do.

The door opened and Draco walked in dripping wet with his towel wrapped low around his waist.

"Forgot my washcloth," he said, going through his bag again. He pulled his hair back to stop it from dripping down his face and Hermione's breath caught in her throat.

He looked up at her and smiled.

"What?" he asked. Hermione blinked a few times realizing he was addressing her. Then scowled at him to mask her embarrassment.

"You're dripping water everywhere," she mumbled and he laughed.

"Oh, sorry," he said, going back to his washcloth search.

Hermione truly was a bitch, she wanted to jeopardize it. She stood from the bed putting her right beside him. He looked down at her with a questioning look.

"I," Hermione began then cleared her throat, "want to see the rest of the camp." she said, darting from the room.

Malfoy smirked and pulled his washcloth from the side pocket of his bag where he _always_ kept it when traveling.

"So that was them?" Terry asked, and McGonagall nodded.

"A difficult pair," she said. "Potter and Zabini brought them to my attention earlier this year. Seems that the two of them have become close during their auror training," she smiled. "Originally, I asked Potter to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. I explained my plan for improving relations between houses this year and he declined, saying that he was content in his line of work. But he and Zabini told me of two people who weren't."

"Well, it's all working out for the better I see," Terry said, smiling. "Seems you haven't lost you're touch."

"Well luckily, Mr. Malfoy was more than happy to cooperate and Granger has always had a strong sense of duty. Still, there was quite a good chance that it would go the exact opposite of what Potter and Zambini assured me. At first I doubted it would work, but they've even got the students doing better. It amazes me really." McGonagall said then sipped her tea.

"Those two have some good friends to know them this well," Terry laughed. "Suppose it's the young blood."

McGonagall smiled, she was going to change Hogwarts no matter what it took. One day, month, or year at a time. It was well over due after all. This weekend, the students would get along whether they liked it or not.

"Professor!" There was a bang on the door.

McGonagall sighed, she had enjoyed that moment of peace while it lasted. She stood and opened the door to see Nathaniel Jensen out of breath.

"Professor, Scott and Tanner are fighting in the boys dorm," he said.

"Well why hasn't anyone separated them?" she questioned taking off down the path with Nate. He laughed dryly.

"They're too busy placing bets Professor," he said exasperatedly. "Apparently Flores is upset over Scott kissing Marcy, or some drama like that," he explained, disgusted with the petty reasons they bothered to have a fight, making him have to exert energy on a field trip.

McGonagall sighed. Hour by hour may have been a better, more efficient time frame for how long it was going to take to get them through not just this weekend, but this year. But she would see it through.

Hermione ran toward one of the boys cabins, knowing the unmistakable sound of teen boy cheering on a fight. She had to get through a sea of students to get into the door.

"Hey!" she yelled pulling Damien off of Tanner, wishing she had her wand to make this easier. She stood between them, and the other students booed, "What's going on here?" she asked.

Neither boy would talk and Hermione took both of their wrists, pulling them from the cabin. As she led them away from the groups of kids McGonagall came striding up the path.

"Everybody get back to your cabins now," she said and the students dispersed immediately. McGonagall walked up to Hermione and the two boys, Hermione was glad to hand them over. "I'll let you handle this Miss Granger," she said to Hermione's shock before continuing to the cabin to tell off the students who'd been betting.

Hermione looked down at the two of them glaring at one another.

"What will you have me do?" she asked them and they both looked up at her in shock. "I don't know what to do with you. Taking points away won't make you friends and forcing you together isn't working either," she sighed. "But I can't let you go unpunished… you understand my dilemma, so what would you two do with yourselves if you were me?" she asked.

Tanner was the first to speak.

"Professor, what would you do if your best friend was being harassed by a pervert?" he asked and Hermione put two and two together to understand that he was talking about Damien and Danielle.

She closed her eyes to ponder over his question.

"To be honest Tanner," Hermione began knowing that she needed to be honest, even if it wasn't what he wanted to hear. "If my friend hadn't told anyone and wasn't asking for my help, I would assume that they wanted to handle it alone. Or that they would tell me when they needed me. Yeah, I'd hate to watch what was going on, but I would also know that if I interfered I may be making things worse for them," she summed.

Tanner looked at her feeling embarrassed, knowing she was right. Damien smirked.

"She probably hasn't said anything because she likes it," he said and tanner glared at him. Hermione put a soothing hand on Tanners shoulder and then directed her attention on Damien and spoke.

"Well, that's not really up to you to decide. The better way to put it, would be that perhaps you like it more than you're letting on," she sighed, not wanting to embarrass him, but he needed to be humbled a bit.

Damien scoffed at the insinuation. Hermione continued not caring about hurting a little kids feelings anymore.

"It's clear to anyone over the age of Fifteen to realize that you like Danielle but are conflicted between the morals your family instilled on you." He looked shocked, as did Tanner, "I'm not telling you to change what you believe in, but to just be honest with yourself and find the truth. She's most certainly no worse than you and you know it. There's no reason for you to be ashamed of liking her, I hear plenty of gossip in the halls and I can tell you that you're not the only Slytherin boy who likes her, and plenty of them aren't even in your year. You're the only one holding yourself back and no one is going to think less of you for liking muggleborns, I promise," Then she turned to Tanner and spoke, "If Damien just admitted that he liked Danielle instead of acting like an immature child on a power trip, you wouldn't have a problem with them dating as long as she was okay with it, would you?"

Tanner thought that over, "As long as he was serious and she was okay with it, then I guess…" he said. "I'd have to except him if I wanted to stay friends with her."

"Good," Hermione said. "Now you can also admit that Damien has a few redeeming qualities that Danielle may like? Such as how he handled that Quidditch game last Sunday, right?" She pushed.

Tanner blushed and Damien was taken aback. "Yeah, it was pretty cool. She and I and some other Gryffindors talked about it after and we were all pretty impressed," he said sounding like it was a difficult utterance.

"Well," she turned back to Damien, "there you go, contrary to what you think, you have the respect of many Gryffindors who think better of you after that game, and the blessing of the best friend. So what's going to stop you now?" she asked glad to be getting somewhere with this.

Damien tried to think of an excuse. He looked up at her with an honest look when he asked her a question that took her completely by surprise.

"What's stopped you from going out with Professor Malfoy when he obviously fancies you?" he asked and Hermione stared at him in shock.

"What are you talking about?" she asked her face glowing. And then he looked at her like she were the biggest idiot in the world.

"Professor" Tanner interjected sharing the look on Damien's face. "You can't possibly say that you didn't know?" He asked. When Hermione continued to look confused Damien laughed followed closely by Tanner.

"Look who's giving out love advice?" Damien said.

"Wait," Hermione said trying to calm the two boys, "What makes you think he likes me?" she asked feeling frantic to know.

"You can't be serious…" Damien said and Tanner continued.

"The question is more, what makes you think he doesn't?" he said trying not to laugh at his professor.

"He," Hermione began feeling embarrassed for having this conversation with two adolescent boys, "He said he likes someone else right now…" she murmured.

"Liked someone else?" Tanner asked.

"Or likes someone?" Damien continued, "How did he say it?

She thought back to the night she'd been drunk, what had he said?

"It was just a someone," she said recalling his words about his conversation with McGonagall.

"And you naturally assumed it wasn't you?" Tanner asked.

"Well of course," Hermione shrugged.

"How sad," Damien sighed.

"Why?" she asked.

"Well he was hinting Professor, to get a reaction." Tanner said.

"But how do you know?" Hermione asked feeling like an idiot.

"I did it to Jasmine just a few days ago," he shrugged and Damien looked at him shocked to find out he was with a Slytherin girl.

"And what did she say?" Hermione asked.

"Well, of course she tried to see if it was her," he said shooting Damien a grin.

"But how?" Hermione was about to explode, she didn't understand this at all.

"She was like 'really, do I know her?' things like that, then she told me she liked someone too and I asked her about him and there you go, we're dating," Tanner shrugged. And Damien smiled and nodded at his tactics.

"So you're telling me," Hermione began in disbelief, "that I was supposed to pick up on some grade school tactic like that?" she frowned.

"Pretty much," Damien said.

"But he gave me a name," she added.

"After he assumed you weren't interested, and probably only after you asked him for a name and he had to make one up," Tanner said and Damien agreed with his words.

"But why would he like me?" she asked running a hand trough her bangs.

"I'm not trying to be a pervert or anything but you're super hot Professor." Tanner laughed.

Hermione looked at Damien who turned away and shrugged, "I suppose." he agreed turning pink.

Hermione blushed, "I um, thank you?" she said in question form. "Well I hope you two stay on good terms, I have to go," she said heading back to the cabin.

"Good luck professor!" Tanner called.

Hermione felt like an idiot, it all seemed so obvious now that she thought of it. She didn't know how she felt yet but she wanted to confirmed the truth before she did anything stupid. But what if he didn't like her and it was all a mix up?

When she got to the cabin room Draco was on the bed writing. She didn't know how to begin the conversation so she instead went for an obvious opening.

"What are you doing?" she asked and he looked up with a smile.

"Writing to Rebecca as you requested," he said watching her face.

Even still Hermione felt the discomfort of hearing Rebecca's name whether she existed or not. Why would he be writing a letter to a fictional love interest she thought. Maybe they were wrong. How could she find out? What would tell her if he liked her?

She sat beside him on his bed and he put the parchment on the bed face down so she couldn't see it. She wondered if Draco was the type to get mushy in letters. Hermione shifted uncomfortably thinking of what he'd write in a letter to someone he liked.

"What's up?" he asked smirking at her transparent jealousy. He was writing to Zabini to see how things were on his end of life. But he couldn't miss an opportunity to see Granger jealous over him. So what if it was completely egotistical. He thoroughly enjoyed it.

Granger opened her mouth then shut it again.

"Yes?" he asked now curious to know what she had to say.

"What's Rebecca's last name?" she asked.

"Sheraton." he answered without thinking. Hermione slumped over.

"Where did you meet her?" she asked.

"A café in Diagon ally," he answered again without pause.

"What color is her hair?"

"Brown," He laughed, "What's going on?"

Hermione sighed, Rebecca had to be real if he could just answer those questions without thinking of the lie beforehand.

"Nothing," she answered, "just wondering if it was a Rebecca I know?" she lied and realized how bad she was at it.

"Okay…" he said. Hermione stood from the bed.

"Let's get to lunch, and I'll tell you about the fight in the boys cabin," she said walking out the door. She wasn't sure of what to do. Then she thought of one simple solution. Maybe she'd try flirting and see what happens. Then she thought about how offensive that would be to Rebecca if she did exist.

It didn't take her long to decide that she didn't care.

**There you go! Tell me if you laughed!**


	9. Hermione's Plan

**Hey everyone. This chapter isn't the best but I only had a few hours to write it and I didn't want to mess up my every other day posting streak. **

**Once I mess up the rotation, I'll get out of the habit.**

**Other than that, I am turning twenty-one Dec 15****th**** and I have a 16 year old niece, so when it came to Hermione as a teacher/friend to her students, I wrote it the way I talk to my nieces friends. **

**So as for Tanner saying Hermione was hot, I realized it seemed inappropriate as a teacher but as a friend it wasn't weird to me. **

**When a little kid says I'm hot I say thanks and laugh because I think it's cute. But I see what you mean if you thought it was wrong.

* * *

**

Interhouse Relations

Chapter 9

Hermione sat with her knees pulled up, one arm holding them to her body and the other out stretched, roasting a marshmallow on the huge bonfire McGonagall had magiced onto the shoreline of the camp. Tanner, Damien and Spencer sat around her in the sand trying to comfort their History Professor.

"What's wrong professor?" Tanner asked.

"Do tell," Damien said, holding in laughter.

"Come on mate," Spencer began, "Have a heart."

Hermione stared at her marshmallow as it caught fire and began going black. She sighed, why hadn't anyone ever told her how hard it was to flirt properly.

Nathaniel came over to the group with Tiffany and sat in the circle handing out canned drinks. Hermione declined the Coke. And sighed heavily.

During lunch, after making up her mind to do everything she could to get a reaction out of Draco, she'd looked at his smiling face as she recapped the fight, and couldn't bring herself to do it. All she could think about was, what if he liked her and it was making her too nervous to even talk to him properly during lunch, let alone flirt.

And then she painfully realized that she didn't really know what flirting would entail. Hermione was a firm believer in modesty and as such never approached a bloke, no matter how attractive. Every boyfriend she'd ever had, had asked her out. On top of that, she'd never even liked a guy first. The people who asked her out were always people she hadn't even associated with her view of an intimate relationship before they confessed.

Now that she really thought about it, she never assumed that any man liked her. She thought of it as being presumptuous, but now she wondered if all her failed relationships were caused by her own nonexistent ability to find specific criteria she wanted in a man, and searching that sort of man out. Instead she just accepted the offers of those who asked her out, just to find out that even though she herself wasn't sure of what she wanted, they were far from it.

So she decided that she would build criteria. Speaking of criteria, she wasn't even sure why she was so eager to know if Draco liked her of not. She thought of him as a friend. didn't she?

Draco watched in annoyance as she sat surrounded by students, moping over something he'd apparently missed. Somewhere between telling him what happened at the boys cabin earlier and now, she'd decided that she wasn't speaking to him. He watched as Danielle sat beside Tanner to joined their little pity party.

"Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall spoke from behind him and he looked up at her annoyed, knowing what she was thinking, "I assume you're aware of what I'm going to say?" she asked, and Draco sighed.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, standing up and heading over to Hermione. McGonagall shook her head. She couldn't understand why children nowadays resorted to offhanded confessions. If he just told her the truth… well, that wasn't for her to decide, was it? She smiled and turned to find the mischief makers of the student body, who she was sure, were always up to something.

Hermione watched as Tanner suddenly stood up from his seat.

"Scott, switch with me, I want to sit closer to the fire." Tanner said, and both Danielle and Damien looked at him in shock. "Hurry up, it's cold out here," he said when Damien didn't move.

Spencer nudged his best friend and he and Tanner traded positions. Damien sat beside Danielle and the both of them looked away from each other while Spencer and Tanner grinned.

Hermione smiled at them feeling better. At least she'd done _something_ right today.

"Professor," Tiffany began and Hermione looked over to her, "I don't really know what's going on, but I suppose I can guess," Hermione went red, "I just want you to know that you should be yourself. Just do things as though you were completely alone and don't change your daily routine."

Hermione looked confused, and Tiffany smiled. "Just letting you know what I think before Professor Malfoy takes you away,"

"What?" Hermione asked and turned around to see Draco headed her way. What was she going to do? She looked around for a place to hide but they were on an open beach.

"Granger," he said from behind her and she sighed, standing up and walking away with him.

They walked in silence for a long while until finally Draco had had enough.

"You going to tell me what your bloody problem is or what?" he asked and Hermione was shocked at how angry he sounded.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine," She said defensively. Draco sighed, and calmed himself down before speaking.

"Good," he said, with a shrug, "then I guess there's nothing to talk about," he finished before heading off to the cabin.

Hermione felt like a total jerk. He was trying to be nice after she had spent the day ignoring him.

Hermione sat on the beach watching the students sitting or running around the bonfire. Just what had Tiffany meant? Do things as though she were alone? Routine? She sighed. Why was she stooping to these immature antics, she wondered. The truth was that she may have left Hogwarts but she was still on the level of a seventh year in romantic terms.

With that in mind, she decided to decipher Tiffany's words. Be herself?

Hermione sat there until McGonagall put out the fire and started rounding students up for bed. Hermione had just figured out what she was going to do. It wasn't exactly being herself, but it _was_ pretending to be alone. Hermione wouldn't call it flirting but it was what Ginny referred to as teasing. It was something she was pretty sure she could do because it didn't require she speak to, or look at him. It would be as though she were completely alone…

How late was it, she wondered as she stood up and ran down the beach to help McGonagall out.

Draco sat on his bed, trying to concentrate on his book with no such luck. He'd read a few chapters but couldn't recall their happenings. He just wanted to know what was wrong with her. Maybe he should have tried a little harder on the beach, but he didn't have the patience it was going to take to find out her problem. Not only that but he wasn't risking going over to the friendship side again after he had just barely clawed his way out and was still hinging on the edge.

Just as he had decided that he'd made the right decision, Granger came through the door of the cabin, into their room and sat beside him on the bed.

"I'm sorry Draco," she said and he was taken by surprise, "I shouldn't have gotten mad at you for trying to help. I'm over it now and just wanted to say thanks for earlier," she finished then sat on her own bed and started going through her bag.

Draco watched as she pulled out her towel, stood from the bed and with her back to him, began undressing.

"What are you doing?" he asked in shock.

"Getting in the shower," she replied casually, like she hadn't noticed the surprise in his voice.

She pulled her shirt over her head and then pulled down her jeans revealing plain black underwear. Draco watched dumfounded as she reached her hands behind her and undid her bra. When she slipped her bra off she let it fall to the floor. She then wrapped her towel around herself and managed to pull her panties down without him seeing anything. She stepped out of them then bent at the knees to pick them up and put them in her bag.

Then without even looking at him she proceeded to the bathroom.

It all happened so quick that Malfoy was still registering, when he heard the shower start up.

Hermione stepped into the warm water hoping that her plan worked. She was so nervous that she probably moved a lot quicker than usual. But she had gone through her normal routine trying to pretend that he wasn't there. She imagined that her bra and panties were her bikini to help her get through.

Harry had once told her that he found it attractive when woman did normal things without taking notice to who's watching. He said that they looked sexier when they didn't know how sexy they were being. At the time she'd dismissed him as being a lecher, but now she wondered if Draco was the same way.

Hermione washed her hair feeling sure that she must have seemed silly. She wondered what he was doing now.

Draco sat staring at her bra on the floor. He'd never in a hundred years thought he'd see Granger do something like that and he was still trying to wrap his head around it. Was this normal Granger behavior? Or maybe she was up to something. Maybe he'd find out.

Hermione finished rinsing off and shivered. She'd stayed in longer than she should have she realized, as the water turned freezing and she had to force herself to stand under it. She stepped out of the shower and toweled herself off, then stood beside the door.

She was scared to go back to the room. She didn't know what she was expecting, but she felt like she was on the brink of finding out if he liked her and she wasn't ready for that. Well, she'd brought it upon herself and now she'd deal with the consequences. Whether it be that he was completely disgusted with her earlier display and was offended at her sleazy attempts at seduction. Or the off chance that he was as much a lecher as Harry and somehow found that show somewhat attractive.

She took a deep breath and went back to the room to see him reading his book. She didn't hesitate as she continued her routine. She pulled out some green underwear and slid them on under her towel then pulled the towel off and bent over to towel her hair. She wondered if he was watching but tried not to sneak a look. God she was an idiot. He probably wasn't even fazed by her, she wasn't beautiful or sexy, she was just an idiot.

Draco stared at her bent over form and wanted to spin her around to see it all, but restrained himself. If he did that, it would be admitting that he liked her and he wasn't ready to be shot down. He was supposed to be making her want him.

She flipped her hair back as she stood straight, then pulled out a large black t-shirt and slipped it on, pulling her hair out of the collar after, which lifted the shirt up just enough to see the triangle that her legs and butt made. Then she pulled on some sweat pants and sat on her bed facing him.

She blushed when she saw that he was looking at her and he uncharacteristically turned away feeling embarrassed. He hadn't meant to be caught, but was he really not supposed to watch her?

She pulled out her brush and began going through her long hair and he picked up his book trying to keep from watching. She just had to be up to something. And if it was to arouse him, she'd done a good job.

"Granger?" he asked without thinking.

She looked up at him with an innocent face.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Do you often undress that way around friends?" he said and Hermione's face looked like a tomato.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, "I don't usually do that, I just wasn't really thinking. That must have been weird, right?" she asked and was glad that her lie was convincing for once. Probably because the embarrassment was real.

"No need to apologize," he smiled, "I was just making sure that, that wasn't secretly your way of asking me to have my way with you."

"No, I," she said sounding flustered.

"You don't have to explain yourself, I just wanted to let you know, that if ever you require my services, you have but to ask and you shall receive," he laughed.

Hermione threw a pillow at him. She couldn't tell if he were joking or not. He was always pulling her leg and teasing her. How was she supposed to get a straight answer out of him?

Modesty was the best policy and she believed that, but right now she wanted to feed him his own medicine. She got up from her bed and stood over his laughing figure.

"Then I'm asking," she said with a straight face, "take me."

He immediately stopped laughing and looked up at her and she thought she had him. Then he smiled and pulled her down onto the bed and got on top of her.

Draco wasn't stupid, did she think he'd take her seriously. He looked down at her shocked face and smirked.

"Tell me how you want it and I'll deliver," he said, and to his surprise, she smiled up at him.

Hermione wasn't giving up, if she kept going he'd eventually stop. She wanted to win at least once against him. To not be the first to back out.

" I don't have much experience," she started, "so I'll let you decide."

Malfoy couldn't believe her. She thought that he wouldn't do it. How sadly mistaken she was. Maybe he'd scare her a bit.

"I'm warning you now Granger, that if I start, you won't be able to back out," he said and Hermione laughed.

He thinks he can scare me into stopping so he doesn't have to admit defeat.

"I'm not stopping you," she started, then pulled him down by his shirt and whispered, "Or will it be more exciting if I struggle?" she said and couldn't believe her own gall.

He pulled back, and for a moment she thought she'd won. Then she saw his dark grin. He pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor. Hermione took in his body in shock, maybe she should back out before something stupid happened.

Draco put his hands on her hips and trailed them up her sides lifting her shirt and just before he got to see his prize she put both her hands on his to stop him. He looked up at her face and she tried to hide her shock.

"Yes?' he asked feeling more impatient then he could ever remember in his life. He was giving her one last chance though he had already promised that he wouldn't stop, and it was taking all his effort not to just toss her hands aside, lock them in his grip and take what she had already offered.

Hermione took a breath, trying to find a way out of this with her pride still intact. As of right now she wanted to run away with her tail between her legs.

"Granger," he said in a deep tone and her heart raced, "I'm waiting,"

Then she had an idea.

"Call me Hermione," she said.

"What?" he smiled.

Hermione was sure that this was her scapegoat. He wouldn't do it. He'd gotten so mad when she'd called him Draco the first time, and all though he seemed fine with it now, something told her that his pride wouldn't let him address her so casually.

"My name," she said with a smile.

Draco looked down at her seeing what she was doing. Her plan was pretty clever, to bad she just wasted her last chance.

"Hermione," he said, and smiled at her shock.

It's not that he couldn't call her Hermione, it was just habit to say Granger.

"You're all out of chances" he said and leaned down to kiss her. She put her hand over his mouth and turned her head away.

"What about Rebecca?" she said giving up on looking cool, as panic set in.

"I don't think she'll mind," he said, pulling her hand away from his mouth and kissing her.

Draco had waited too long to do this. She put her other hand on his shoulder and pushed as hard as she could before he took that one into his hands as well.

Hermione was spinning. What had she done, this hadn't told her anything but that next time he teased her she shouldn't challenge it. And that he was willing to cheat on a girl he really liked to prove a point.

She tried to squirm her way free but as she should have expected he held tighter and kissed harder, making her forget about wanting to get away at all.

But this was wrong, and damn her morals but, if he was just messing with her, it didn't matter how lovely it felt, the point was that he was in love with some other girl. For some reason her chest ached at the thought. She pulled her face away and with a firm voice spoke.

"Stop," she said and he immediately pulled away. So it seemed he did know when someone didn't want it. "You win," she continued, laughing, while pulling herself up from the bed.

He moved aside and let her leave his bed. She moved the stuff off her bed and lied down. She sighed and turned to look at him.

"You couldn't let me win once could you?" she smiled. She didn't want him to think anything was wrong. She wanted to just laugh it off, "Give me back my pillow, I'm going to bed,"

Draco was confused. He tossed her pillow to her, she turned over and yawned.

"Night," she said.

Draco fell back on his bed. How was he supposed to sleep now?

Sometime later Hermione's light breathing alerted him that she was sleeping. At the same time it was a constant painful reminder of her presence in the room. She was so close that it was like she was laying beside him.

"I wish," he sighed.

Damien lay awake in his bed, cursing ever making friends with Tanner Flores. After all, he should have known what would happen when he put Flores and Nix in the same room.

"Would you two bloody shut up," He said.

"Oh come on mate," Spencer began, "live a little."

"That's right Scott, you ought to join in," Flores said.

They'd gotten the whole cabin chatting about what girls had the best assets. They were in cabin two which was compiled of all the fifth through seventh year boy's from all four houses.

With Tanner and Spencer being two of the most popular guy's in school, they efficiently banned most of the cabin together after pointing out the best part of house relations.

With open relations between houses, there were suddenly a lot more girls made accessible to all of them. Instead of choosing from the five or so girls in your own year or house, they were looking at a total of over twenty girls in each year. Not only that but if you added the one year above and below, there were so many more possibilities.

"Hey, don't pressure him, Tanner!" one of the seventh years in the back yelled, "he's a one woman man now."

Everyone laughed and cheered.

Tanner and Spencer had gone out of their way to inform everyone that Danielle was off limits until Damien made his move. Damien was annoyed and at the same time, which he'd never tell anyone, also grateful that everyone knew and was cheering him on.

"Just because he's got the hots for Marcy doesn't mean he can't checkout the other fine ladies," someone else chimed in.

They all laughed and Tanner spoke.

"Don't bother, he can't think of anyone but Danielle." Tanner laughed, looking up at him.

Damien shot him a glare, turned over on his bed and smiled. Was that such a bad thing?

Draco still couldn't sleep, all he could think about was her shenanigans, and the memories hadn't dulled even though it had been hours. Beside him he heard Hermione stir.

She sat up sleepily and rolled to get off the bed but hit the wall and grunted. Draco laughed, she'd forgotten she wasn't in her own room. She turned over and got off the bed then followed the wall to the door.

Draco heard the toilet clearing and then she was in the doorway again. She stumbled into the room and lied down on the bed. His bed. She must be really disoriented he thought as she was pulling up the covers and passed back out.

He wasn't going to get any sleep with her laying here, but he wasn't about to send her away either. He put his arm around her keeping a small gap between their bodies and decided he'd rather love to see her face in the morning when she realized where she was.

**My apologies for such a short and crappy chapter. I'll try to make it up in the next chapter again.**


	10. Muggle Studies Made Fun

**Thanks to:**

WonderfulCaricature

Ebm56

**For the early congrats on my B-Day from both of them. Ebm56 for giving me the best reviews known to all Fanfiction kind. ^_^ if you have a fanfic, your lucky to have the love of ebm56. **

**Also to:**

I'm Home

**For reviewing not just the story, but three different chapters in one sitting and another of my stories. And the wonderful suggestions on What Fanfiction Writers and Readers Want 3. Much loved. **

**To:**

Everyone who enjoyed the chapter and reassured me that it didn't suck as much as I thought. ^_^ I needed that! And to everyone who doesn't hate me for my repeated _spelling_ and _grammar _errors. And love to those who help by pointing them out!

**And to:**

The ppl who always gives me specifics on what they enjoyed about the chapter. Believe it or not, what you guy's write, inspire the next chapter. If you enjoy a character and let me know, its almost guaranteed you'll get more of them.

**Last but not least:**

To all of you enjoying a more down to earth story. I didn't expect to be getting over a 1,000 views for every new chapter. Or to even get more than 30 reviews let alone the hundreds of alerts and the many faves for this story.

It's a great boost to my own confidence and in the Fanfiction readers who I thought had all given up on originality. For that, I'd like to apologize and say that I'm grateful to all of you who haven't gotten bored because my story isn't raunchy enough. Just for all of you chapter 11 will be sure to please.

**Now that I'm done being sentimental, here's chapter 10.**

* * *

Innerhouse Relations

Chapter 10

Hermione woke up dazed the next morning feeling warm and cozy, so cozy infact that she decided to go back to sleep, until she felt something poking her in the back. She opened her eyes to see her empty bed across from her and it took seeing the arm hugged around her middle under her shirt for her to realize were she was.

She lied still trying to recall how she'd ended up in his bed. Behind her he nestled his head into her shoulder and continued his light breathing of sleep. After the initial shock wore off she realized that she didn't want to get up but she had to.

Draco woke to her lifting his arm off of her slowly, trying not to wake him. He wondered how long she'd been awake. He felt a bit disappointed at her reaction, he'd expected her to scream and run from his bed, but instead she was quietly sneaking away. Apparently, she didn't want to be caught. He smiled and pulled her closer to him.

Hermione gasped as he suddenly held her tighter. A shiver went down her spine as she felt him fully against her. 'Stop it you traitor' she thought, referring to her body and the wonderful feeling that had just spread through it. She sighed as her body calmed down and her heart went back to it's normal pace.

Draco smiled, the way her body shivered hadn't gone unnoticed. He wondered what kind of reactions he could get out of her while she was under the impression that he was asleep. He let his hand climb up her stomach slowly.

Hermione held her breath as his hand went up her ribs and cupped one of her breasts. When he lightly squeezed she couldn't believe herself as a moan escaped her lips.

Draco tried to stay still when she moaned, arching her back and pressing her butt against him. She was so easily excitable. He let his hand travel back down ward and stop on her stomach, deciding he should stop because at the end of this, he was sure he'd be the one suffering.

Hermione laid there for a second trying to get her self back to reality and catch her breath. Finally when she had, she again lifted his arm off of her and slid out of his bed. She looked down at him sleeping soundly and was glad to know that she was never going to have to have a conversation about this with him.

Draco heard her unzip her bag and cracked an eye open to see her remove her toothbrush and head to the bathroom. When he heard the water running he turned over and groaned. Why was he torturing himself this way, and now he didn't even have the privacy he needed, to take care of his overgrown problem. He turned over and put his face in his pillow trying to forget about it. That wasn't working so he stood up and threw on some clothes.

When Hermione got back to the room Draco walked past to the bathroom and by the time she'd finished dressing he had already gone to breakfast. She got dressed and headed out as well. When she got there she sat beside Draco.

"Good morning," she said and sighed.

"Morning," he replied without looking at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked, and he looked at her with a blank stare.

"Had a strange dream," he answered in monotone, "How about you?" he asked.

Hermione turned away and shrugged.

"I don't remember," She answered, while filling up her plate.

"I see," he said, then went for some eggs, "I guess it was just me then."

Hermione blushed thinking that perhaps he remembered what happened, but thought he was dreaming. Well, she wasn't going to say anything.

When it seemed all of the students had arrived and were eating, Terry and McGonagall stood before them and everyone fell silent.

"Now," Terry began, "Terry's is a camp for the arts," he said and all the students listened carefully. "In muggle schools the music and arts programs don't get enough funding, so parents pay to send their kids here for the summers to make up for that." he continued. "Hogwarts is too, without an arts program, so there will be plenty of new things to experience, while you're here. My councilors have all come in this morning." he waved a hand behind him where twenty or so young people ranging from seventeen to twenty-five sat at a table. "In my employment, are all either muggle borns or non magic wizard folk, like myself. So if you have any questions like, 'what the hell does this bloody muggle contraption do?' feel free to ask a councilor."

Terry smiled as the students laughed. "Now, while you're here you can learn the muggle electric guitar. We've got ballet for the young ladies. If you want something artsy, we have sculpting, painting, and pottery classes. And exclusively for you Hogwarts students, we've turned our computer lab into a full on course in computer usage. There's many more, so I'm sure everyone will find something to do. We have a rec room with arcade games, DVD's and TV's so give that a visit and tinker around."

The student were in awe. The things he spoke of were items they'd seen printed in muggle studies text books. Or brought into the class in non working fashion so you had to use your imagination. Or the stuff of make believe that your muggle born friends talked about missing while being at Hogwarts, such as these things called 'videogames.' But now they were going to get practical use. The student's cheered and chatted excitedly.

Hermione was shocked with McGonagall. Not only was she single handedly fixing house relations, but now she had added character building electives and was tackling down the muggle understanding barrier while she was at it. This woman was officially Hermione's hero. No wonder so many parents had agreed to this field trip. Saying no was like you didn't want to give your student the experience of a lifetime for a witch or wizard child.

It was also an iffy thing to do if you didn't want to come off as a muggle hater in the postwar wizarding world. And that was highly frowned upon nowadays which is why every Slytherin parent signed away their child for this trip, lest they be suspected of bias toward muggle borns and such.

McGonagall quieted them down.

"Now, because this was the first trip, all of Hogwarts is here to do the first sign ups. In the coming weeks only one to two years will be coming at a time. This should help balance out homework, Quidditch, and Hogsmead trips evenly." When she said the last bit, you could tell that she found those other activities less important, "When you sign up for something, you will be required to continue in that field for at least three visits before deciding you'd like to change your course. I want to make sure that all of you have a chance to experiment in all the activities you want being offered, but I also want each of you to learn to follow through." she said and the students all thought that over as McGonagall gestured for Terry to continue.

"Outside we have some tables set up with various clubs to sign up for, so take a look at all of them. If you have any questions about what sorts of things you'll be doing in a certain club, don't hesitate to ask a councilor, and if you're not all that sure about what you want to do, give it some time to think and talk it out with a friend. You've got until five p.m. tonight to make a decision. If by chance your name isn't down for a club by then, my councilors and I will assume you wanted to play what we call the 'Mystery Game' and in this game," he paused, picking up a dart board from off the floor beside him, "we take the liberty of throwing darts at this board to determine your club status." the students laughed, "You think it's funny now, but I've had some six foot seventeen year old boy beg me to change his club because he got put into ballet. I'm serious guys, get your name down before five." he said. Then he smiled, "Well that's it. Finish eating, then get out of here and find a club."

* * *

Danielle walked with Tanner to the sign up tables. As she walked it felt like quite a lot of eyes were on them. People walking past sidestepped to get out of their way, and those who were already in their way looked up and parted like the red sea. Then she noticed that the ones doing this were all male.

She saw Anthony Gear ahead of them, he was in their year and in fact was a close friend. When he began to retreat she ran up to him and caught his arm.

"Hey, Anthony," she started with a huge smile, "what are you signing up for?" she asked.

Anthony smiled down at her awkwardly then looked up at Tanner. Danielle turned to see Tanner just standing there. He looked at her and shrugged.

"I, um," Anthony began, "I don't really know what I'm signing up for yet, so I better go check it out before all the good stuff's gone." he stammered, and then sped off in the opposite direction.

She watched his retreating figure in shock, then heard a snicker from behind before turning on Tanner, who'd straightened up his face.

"What did you do?" she asked him and he shrugged.

"I didn't do anything," he said, and although she couldn't detect any of his usual sneaky mannerisms, she just knew it was him.

"Did you say we were dating again, because I'm sure Jasmine would be quite upset," she asked.

"No," he laughed, "I didn't do anything. Now lets hurry and sign up for something."

Danielle sighed before walking off to one of the tables.

Tanner smiled. He technically hadn't done anything. He'd only accompanied Spencer, who'd done all the talking last night, asking everyone to give Damien and Danielle some space.

Tanner underestimated how much of an influence Nix had on people.

Damien watched from across the yard as everyone headed for the hills when Danielle and Tanner came near and couldn't help but smile. This was maybe the first time in his life that there was no one trying to sabotage him.

He watched and waited until she finally made a decision and signed her name at one of the tables. As she walked away Tanner sent him a thumbs up and Damien proceeded to the booth she'd just left, to sign his name.

Being in the same club as her would insure them time to spend together.

As he finished signing his name he looked up at the club he'd just joined.

"The Drama club?" he said in shock, then rolled his eyes as the woman behind the counter nodded her head excitedly.

Maybe this was just crossing the line. Before he had a chance to scratch his name out Spencer stood in front of him, put his own name down and pushed Damien away from the sign up sheet.

"Don't worry Scott," he laughed, "I'll help see you through this."

Damien watched as the sign up booths got farther and farther away.

* * *

Hermione sat on a violet rec room couch listening to the banter around.

"I'm going to sign up for drama," one girl said.

"But I thought you wanted to try ballet, or singing?" Her friend asked surprised.

"Yeah well, that was before I found out that Flores, Scott, _and_ Nix all signed up for drama club." the girl smiled and watched as her friends face took in the hotness to be had by joining the club with the three cutest guys in school.

Suddenly her friend walked away.

"Wait where are you going?" the first girl called.

"I'm claiming a spot before the word spreads," She said and the other girl ran to catch up.

Then from the other side of Hermione, another girl spoke. "Did you hear that?"

"I cant believe it. All three of them?" another asked shocked.

"Do you think it's true?"

"Well, I guess I'm going to find out." she said before leaving the room.

Hermione smiled as a boy scoffed.

"Damn those fifth years, now if we don't sign up for drama we'll never land a hot girl,"

"Come on mate, I'm not gunna be left out." said the other boy, before they too left the room.

It all seemed so ridiculous when you heard it in third person like this. Hermione chuckled.

"Granger?" Draco said from behind her.

She turned around to see him with a air hockey puck in his hand.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Show me how to use this will you?" he asked and Hermione smiled getting up from the couch and switching the TV off before taking the puck from his hands.

"Alright," she said, handing him a bumper. "Stand on that side. It's pretty much like football," then paused, "I mean Quidditch. Were both keepers and this," she said holding up the puck, "this is the quaffle. You're goals are there," she indicated the slits in front of him and herself, "and the table will keep score for us here," she said pointing to the lit up screen where someone had started a game and left it unfinished. "We hit the puck up and down using these," she said then tossed the puck on the table and gave it a push to his side, " and that's it."

He looked at it skeptically.

"That's it?" he reiterated.

"Yup," she said.

"That doesn't sound too entertaining," he said, and she turned on the table and smiled.

"Give it a try," she said.

He sighed and hit the puck at her goal. She blocked it and hit the puck into his goal faster than he could register to stop it. He looked up and saw the electronic screen put up a red number one. He looked at her smiling face and pulled the puck out of the hole in front of him. He set it down and hit it hard, she blocked again and before he knew it she'd scored another point.

"I don't like this game," he said, annoyed.

"Is someone's pride being wounded?" she mocked and there were 'Oh's' around the room as students circled around to watch.

Draco glared at her and put the puck on the table again. This time he shot and Hermione was to slow to stop it. He smiled up at her and she smiled back as she scored another shot on him.

"I wasn't ready," he said and she shrugged.

"Not my fault, maybe you should have been paying attention." She and the students laughed.

Okay, he was well aware that this was just a game, but he was getting really pissed off. He put the puck on the table and was determined to beat her.

An hour later, she'd beaten him three times.

"One more," he said through gritted teeth. Hermione sighed.

"I'm sure the students would like a try," she said looking at the crowd that had formed itching to have a go.

"Then show me something else," he said. He wanted to beat her at something.

"Fine." Hermione smiled, she was thoroughly enjoying having the upper hand for once. She led him to the race car driving game and explained the gas and the brake to him.

Five games later, he hadn't won.

Next, because he insisted, she showed him the basket ball game. After failing there, he pointed to the ski ball game.

By the time dinner had rolled around, they'd successfully given the students a tour of how to use almost everything in the arcade. Draco even managed to get a higher score than her on the pinball machine and button mash his way to victory on Marvel V.S. Capcom. He was feeling pretty proud of himself as they finished up a zombie shooting game where they played a mode called co op and he finally remember to reload without her telling him.

They laughed all the way to the mess hall.

"Is this what muggle life is like?" he asked.

"For kids, pretty much." she said. Hermione was having a hard time digesting his child like behavior, he was even amazed by Ms. Pac-Man.

"If I grew up like that I'd never get bored," he said.

"Yes you would, those things are mundane in the muggle world." she said and he looked like he couldn't believe people could walk past those games and not play them. She laughed.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"I've never seen you look so moved by something. It's funny to see you all excited and laughing." she said.

He stopped and smiled at her.

"Do you like it?" he asked.

Hermione looked at him and thought that over. He was a lot nicer to be around this way. She wasn't worried about their complicated relationship and her head wasn't thinking about their previous encounters every time he was near.

"Yes, actually I do," she answered.

Draco recognized that look.

"Good," he said, and walked past her, "I'll remember not to do that anymore."

Hermione stared at his back and frowned, was he joking?

"Your such a jerk," she said catching up to him and shooting him a scowl.

"Perfect," he replied, he wasn't about to fall back into being addressed in that friendly tone of voice. As much fun as it was to watch her laughing at him and having a good time with her guard down and all, he just couldn't risk it. He'd rather be a jerk than her friend any day.

They entered the mess hall and took their seats as Terry and the other councilors looked over the sign up sheets in amazement.

"We've never had so many people sign up for the drama club before." Terry said and Hermione smiled.

"Well apparently three of the most popular boys joined, so naturally the crowd went along." she smiled.

"Sheep," Draco commented and Hermione shot him a glare.

"Well Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall began, "you'll be joining the herd." she said handing him a script for _The Taming Of The Shrew_. Hermione snickered, "You too miss Granger." McGonagall added putting another script in front of her.

"But this is for the students," Hermione began.

"There's no reason you shouldn't learn the lines with Mr. Malfoy in order to help your students along." McGonagall said and Hermione was pretty sure that there was another reason for this, but with McGonagall as ring leader, she wasn't about to find out.

"This," Terry began, pushing a young boy around Draco and Hermione's age up to them. "is Kyle. He teaches the Drama club."

"Yo," he said holding up a hand in greeting.

Draco nodded his head in a hello then turned to Hermione when he didn't hear her usual perfect etiquette kick in.

"Um, hi." she answered blushing.

Draco looked up at Kyle who smiled.

"Can't wait to work with you," he said to Hermione, then noticed Draco, "Both of you," he corrected.

And Draco wanted to punch this guy in his pretty little face.

"Yeah," Hermione said.

"Why wait," Kyle smiled at her with pearly whites, "why don't I go over some stuff with you tonight."

"I'll pass," Draco said darkly and from beside him Hermione stood up.

"Sure," she said, and Kyle smiled at her.

"I can show you to the auditorium now if you'd like," he started, then continued quickly, "so you don't get lost tomorrow morning that is. It can be pretty hard to find."

Draco looked at Hermione as she deliberated. Surely she'd see that this guy was coming on to her and head for the hills.

"That would be great," she answered, and they proceded to leave the mess hall. Just before Kyle was out of sight he turned around and shot Draco a smile.

What the hell was going on?

Around the hall students watched from the corner of their eye's, trying to pretend they hadn't just seen him get dumped like that.

He looked at McGonagall who lifted a questioning eyebrow at him.

When he looked away, she cleared her throat and spoke loud enough to address the staff table.

"That Kyle seems like quite a nice boy," she said and Draco watched as all the councilors looked at one another skeptically. Then Terry laughed.

"That boy's friendly all right," he said and the other councilors held in their chuckles.

McGonagall shot him and the other Councilors a look that told them she'd taken note of the innuendo insinuated and they all stopped their laughter. Then McGonagall sent him a look that demanded he do something, but Draco looked away and continued to sit there.

He wasn't going to go chasing after her if she wanted to be taken by some pretty boy's charms. He forked some food and continued eating.

* * *

The Prefects and the Head boy and girl sat at the table closest to the staff, listening in.

Nate shook his head in disbelief. Was he really not going to do anything. Across from him he saw that they were all sharing the same thoughts.

"This is stupid," Tiffany said standing up and pulling Nate out of his seat.

"What-" he began, but then she gave him a look to kill and he closed his mouth. She bent low to the table and everyone leaned in to listen.

"I'm going to follow them," she whispered.

"I want to come too," said a Hufflepuff and others nodded in agreement.

"No it'll be conspicuous if more than just the heads go," she said, "If Professor Malfoy finds out we all went spying for him…" she didn't need to finish that sentence. They all knew the unmerciful amount of homework he'd set when they got back to Hogwarts and cringed.

Tiffany took a deep breath then looked at Nate.

"Lets go Jensen," she said. He nodded and followed her out of the hall on a mission in espionage.

**R&R and if you have time, check out a story that you'll love if like and or hate Twilight and Harry Potter! Its her first harry potter fanfic by **_**Brinkmess**_** called **_**The Darkest**_**. You'll laugh!**

**You can find **_**Brinkmess**_** on my favorite authors list. it's a short read so give it a try!**


	11. It's Just Sexual Tension

**Hey all. No pressure ebm56. lol ^_^  
**

** read The Darkness by Brinkmess.**

**Great reviews! Nothing to say here except that this chapter is pretty raunchy. **

**Poor Draco's been patient and needs some release.**

* * *

Innerhouse Relations

Chapter 11

(_insert spy theme_)

On youtube type in **Boomeraction Theme **for the perfect song.

Tiffany and Nate followed close behind Professor Granger and Counselor Kyle. Hiding under the cover of darkness and between cabin buildings, they watched as the two entered a large building with a sign that read auditorium.

"What do we do now?" Nate asked knowing it was impossible to follow without being seen. Tiffany looked around and then pointed at the passageway that led to the back of the building.

"This way," she said and Nate was a little shocked when she grabbed his hand. They came to a door that read 'stage entrance' and she tried the knob. To both their surprise, it opened and they entered hearing the voices of their prey inside, then closed the door back as gently as possible.

They came up on stage left and peeked around the curtain to see the professor climbing up the stage.

"Is it okay if I look in the back?" she asked and Kyle laughed.

"Of course, I'll show you around." he answered. Tiffany gagged at his obvious flirting, and Nate pulled her away before they saw her. They stood in she shadows looking for somewhere to hide. Finally Nate pointed to a closet. She nodded and he pulled her in, quietly shutting the door, as the professors foot falls came closer.

There was only enough room in this closet to fit maybe three people and they both backed up to the wall as Kyle approached.

"This is one of the many prop closets," he began and the two students watched as his shadow appeared on the grey window, "We don't keep anything in this one due to the broken knob that Terry wont get fixed," He said, putting his hand on the knob and they held their breath, "some times it works, and most of the time, "he jiggled the handle and it wouldn't budge, "it doesn't."

They let out a sigh as Kyle and Hermione walked away. Nate was backed against the wall, and Tiffany was backed against him and they stayed that way until they couldn't make out the voices anymore.

Tiffany finally pulled away and Nate adjusted himself glad that she moved just in time. She put her ear to the door then looked up at Nate.

"Come on, we can hear them from here," she whispered and he pressed his ear to the door as well.

(_End spy theme_)Hope you enjoyed it. I searched to find the perfect song.

* * *

Hermione had gone with her gut instinct upon meeting Kyle. He was gorgeous, not that that was her type or anything. As it had been established earlier, she had no specifics for a man. But one thing was for sure, she found him attractive. It had taken her only a few seconds to decide that this would be the first time that she openly approached someone she thought was good looking.

Kyle was good looking, true, and indeed he was kind, but Hermione wasn't stupid when it came to pompous guys who think they're a heaven send. After all she'd been friends with two of them for years. So she kindly explained to Kyle that she wasn't looking for a relationship at the moment and surprisingly he'd laughed, immediately turned off his overbearing charm and launched into friends mode telling her that it was a shame she'd caught on so fast and that he'd heard she was smart but he couldn't resist giving it a try when he saw how good she looked.

Hermione sat on the edge of the stage trying to find the words to say, but she didn't know how to take such a confession. She was just thinking that this guy probably had less shame than Draco when he vindicated that by sighing and announcing that she would have been an excellent lay. For some reason the way he said it made her laugh. Hermione decided that she would really write out some criteria tonight and a guy who could make her laugh in awkward situations would be at the top of the list.

Kyle was unbelievably easy to talk to as she'd realized over the coming hours that they spent discussing Shakespeare and Hogwarts and the Ministry. Hermione sighed. Figures a good man like him would be the type to never settle.

Hermione looked up at the clock on the wall and realized they'd been out for quite some time and should be calling it a night.

* * *

Nate sighed when finally Professor Granger and Kyle left the auditorium. He and Tiffany leaned against opposite walls with sighs.

"I guess it was a waste of time," Tiffany said. "Professor Granger saw right through him."

"Better safe than sorry," Nate replied, trying to stretch his stiff limbs.

"My body's sore too," she said watching his movements, "lets get out of here," she said reaching for the knob.

And of course! You guessed it, they were trapped. (One little cliché can't hurt)

They shared a disgruntled groan and proceeded to pound on the door, but their only means of rescue were already on their way to bed.

* * *

"So what's up with you and the blonde guy?" Kyle asked as he walked Hermione back to her cabin after they'd chatted for a few hours.

"Yes well," She began trying to classify what he was to her, "old school mates, never really friends. Now we teach at Hogwarts together and I've found that he's not a bad guy after all." she tried, but that still didn't sound right.

"So you're saying you like him," Kyle confirmed nodding his head.

"No! What?" Hermione defended. "We're just friends now," her blush gave her away.

"Oh," Kyle laughed, "well I hope you haven't told him that," he said and Hermione looked up at him guiltily and confused. He looked at her dumfounded, then laughed again.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked annoyed.

"No, nothing," he said calming his laughter.

Kyle looked down at this girl, unable to believe that she'd caught him in his act so quickly, but couldn't tell that the blonde had wanted to kill him for taking her away from him tonight. Hell, she wasn't even aware that she was smitten with the guy. How stupid could two people be really? She'd probably crushed that guys chances the moment 'friend' slipped out of her pretty little mouth. And here she was, so plainly waiting for a confession that she'd never get until she took the ban off of the guy by admitting that she liked him first.

"Draco, was it?" Kyle began, "Yes, well he didn't seem all that nice when I met him," he said.

"Yeah, he can be an ass," she sighed.

"But you consider him a friend?" he continued and she thought that over.

"Well, he's nice to me, most of the time." she shrugged.

"Have you ever wondered why?" Kyle pressed.

"I think he's all around a genuinely nice person, but he doesn't get the chance to show it you know," she began, "But now that we work together, we've gotten the chance to get to know one another. I guess he knows that we're friends now and so he can be himself." she said.

Kyle pinched the bridge of his nose. What kind of deluded explanation was that? The obvious answer was that the guy likes you, but it was like she was trying to rule out that possibility at all coasts by reiterating that he was just being a friend. He wanted to knock some sense into her.

They reached the cabin door and he smiled at her. Maybe he could help her get the message by pushing this Draco guy's buttons. Camp always got so boring now and again. He was looking forward to some entertainment.

"See ya," he said cheerfully as Hermione walked into the cabin and waved Kyle goodbye before closing the door. When she turned around, Draco had just emerged from the bathroom fresh out of the shower in nothing but a towel. He shot her a glare before continuing into the room.

Hermione stood there in shock for a moment, what was that look for? Had she done something wrong? She followed him into the room and hopped on her bed watching him go through his bag with his back to her.

"Have fun?" he asked harshly and she was taken aback by the tone. Automatically she went on the defensive.

"_Loads_," she said and he stopped what he was doing momentarily before continuing. He pulled out is boxer briefs and let the towel fall to the floor. Hermione blushed and turned away from his stunning figure.

"What did you do?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Talked," she answered. And peeked at him to see that he now had his boxers on and was standing facing her.

"About?" he continued, clenching his fists.

"A lot of things," she answered, feeling like she was being attacked. He took a few calming breaths, realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with her by being angry.

"The other councilors were saying he was a womanizer is all," he said. It wasn't word for word, but that was the insinuation.

"I can take care of myself," she spat, still angry with his earlier demeanor, "What do you care? If I'd gotten raped, you'd probably make it my fault, saying that I obviously wanted it or something. That I was begging for it and he knew I liked it," she murmured. "Besides, I can be with who I want." She had no idea why that had just come out of her mouth. He'd been worried about her. Still she felt angry that he hadn't come after her knowing what Kyle wanted. Then he had the nerve to tell her off like a child when she returned. If he thought the guy was so bad, he could have done something about it.

"You're right," he began as he pushed her down on the bed and forced his way between her legs. "You're always begging for it aren't you?"

"Stop!" Hermione yelled trying to push him off and he pinned her down.

He'd spent hours waiting for her and letting his imagination get the better of him. Thinking of what she could be doing with that prat Kyle.

"Why should I?" he asked angrily, "If you're just going to give it to anyone, I may as well be the first in a long line." he began then smiled down at her darkly, "We'll bring that sex dream of yours to life." he said holding both her hands in one of his own, pulling down her pants. Hermione's heart raced at the thought.

Draco wanted to claim her as his alone.

He should never have watched her getting undressed yesterday and played that stupid game with her. Or let her sleep in his bed last night. And for the love of god, what had he been thinking to have felt her up this morning?

Forget the recent stuff. His first mistake was giving in to his pent up desires and pushing her against that wall in Hogsmead. Letting her tell him about that dream, making him wonder about the rest of it every night since. Not controlling his flirting that night in his room before the trip.

He had just been begging for this to happen. Teasing himself to the point that there was no way he could stop now. He was to angry and frustrated to think about what he was doing, let alone stop himself for the hundredth time since he started working at Hogwarts.

Hermione was having a panic attack. He kissed her neck and her mouth still pulling at her jeans. She tried to pull free but she couldn't. She kicked and struggled but he was solid. He got her pants down her thighs and she realized that she didn't want him to stop. It was just like her dream, he was forcing himself on her and here she was getting excited.

"Tell me what I did after I got your pants down?" he asked in her ear and she couldn't speak. "I guess I'll make it up as I go along then," he said, and let his hand slide between her legs. She moaned and arched up as his fingers slid inside of her.

He wanted to smile at the moistness but it just pissed him off even more that she only reacted this way to him when he was practically raping her. He wanted her to come to him. If he did this now he would regret it later and he knew it. If he did this now, she would never know if she liked him or if it was just because of their sexual encounters. He looked down at her panting. Her body moving under him, enjoying his touch. Oh god, he wanted to do this now.

But he didn't want to have to force himself on her like this to have sex with her. He wanted them to have a real relationship. It wasn't about her body. Well no, it was absolutely about her body. But it was more so, about her as a whole and he wanted all of her. When did he become such a romantic?

He kissed her, hard and hungrily, while painfully and slowly removing his hand from her.

Painful and slow for the both of them. Then he pulled away with a sharp ache in his nether region. She lay panting, looking up at him with lust filled eyes dilated, and he had to get away from her before he couldn't resist. Apparently, he still had some sense and just a smidgen of restraint left.

"I'm sorry," he said in a strained voice and she couldn't register his words. All she could focus on was the thickness of him, restricted by his boxers, in front of her. He turned away, pulling the blanket and pillow from his bed and retreating to the couch.

Hermione watched him go in shock. What had they been arguing about again? It didn't seem to matter. All she knew was that she'd enjoyed every bit of the result of that row, and wished that he'd come back and finish what he'd started. She wanted to, but couldn't go out there and throw herself at him. Well, she could. But it was most certainly against her better judgment, so chose not to.

She sighed. Suddenly she felt so dirty. She got up from the bed and when her legs resumed functioning she headed straight for the shower. She had never masturbated. Never needed too, but tonight felt like as good a time as ever to try.

* * *

Draco made a cozy little bed for himself on the couch and snuggled in, trying to tune out the running water of the shower and what he could assume she was doing in there. He imagined her hands running over her-

He had to stop. He wasn't helping his situation at all. He got up from the couch and decided he'd go for a walk. As he was going to the room to put some clothes on he heard a curious sound coming from the bathroom and put his ear to the door. There was no mistaking the sounds her voice was making.

He tried to pull himself away from the door. He wasn't going to have sex with her, he remembered firmly. It was decided. He was going to go for a walk and not think about this, he told himself. He heard her voice let out a sound of pleasure. He was going to stop listening at this door. He rested his forehead against the frame, then stood up straight. He turned away from the door determined to walk away…

"Fuck," he sighed turning back and opened the door to the bathroom. Hermione stood there in all her glory, shocked but not bothering to shield herself from him.

"Fuck," he berated himself again, shaking his head disapprovingly at his own actions as he pulled down his boxers and watched as Hermione took him in. he stepped into the water and kissed her.

"Damn it," he said and turned her around so her back was to him. No sex. No sex. He promised himself as he slid his fingers into her again and she rubbed herself against him. He wouldn't have intercourse with her, but it didn't mean he couldn't satisfy her by other means.

Hermione gasped as he moved his hand inside of her. He bit her shoulder and caressed her breast with his free hand. She knew that she was doing something wrong, but couldn't bring herself to figure out what it was at the moment. He groaned in her ear before he bit it and she didn't care what it was that she was missing, she wanted this to go on forever.

Draco leaned against the wall, pulling Hermione closer and tried to concentrate on her. He wanted to put it in her so bad… he leaned his head back on tiled wall and tried not to think about how good it would feel to be inside of her, which only made him think about it more. He bit his lip, he couldn't give in. When the two main characters have sex, it's always the end of the story. Either they get together after that, or they…

He wasn't ready to mess up their relationship. Well what they were doing now may cause some problems in the future, he was sure. But when they had sex, it would be mutual and well established that they liked each other. If he put it in her right now they'd be fuck buddies. She pushed herself against him again and he almost didn't mind.

No sex, he reminded himself, when her moaning became frantic and she lifted her arms to circle his neck and fist his hair. He worked his hand over her sensitive flesh. This was more than good enough right now.

Hermione cried out when his hand moved faster. He sucked her neck and his other hand rubbed up and down her body, stopping on her breast and pinching her nipple. With that simple added pleasure she was suddenly spinning with ecstasy.

Draco stood still as she slowly rubbed against him while releasing. He had to get out of here it became to much. He pulled her to him tight so she'd stop moving, then rinsed his hands in the water before pulling her away from him and stepping out of the shower.

She looked at him as he picked up his boxers and cracked the door open. Before he could get fully out of the bathroom she addressed him.

"Draco," she said and he turned around to face her, "You're dripping water everywhere," she smiled and tossed him her towel before closing the curtain, lathering her washcloth and washing up.

He caught the towel in shock. That wasn't the reaction he had been expecting. More crying and self loathing, would have helped. But he wasn't complaining. He smiled and toweled himself off a bit before heading to the room.

* * *

Hermione heard him leave the bathroom and smiled. She couldn't believe she'd just let him do that. But she was strangely happy. Infact she was ecstatic. Even the thought of Rebecca and what _she_ would be feeling, didn't snub out the giddy feelings she had.

He was a two timing dirty snake she thought, but found herself smiling about it. She knew that he didn't like her and that it was nothing but a sexual attraction between adults that had occurred just now and she wasn't even feeling like a dirty tramp for giving into her feelings. She had some serious problems, she decided, but she wasn't about to work herself up in a frenzy about it right now, when she knew that inevitably, the weight of her actions would come crashing down on her later. They always did.

Right now she just wanted to bask in this incredible feeling. She didn't want to lie to herself anymore, and the truth was that whether she was sure that she wanted to be with him or not, she liked being close to Draco. And that, although she didn't know what she was looking for in a man, he didn't run her away like the others, so he must possess some of what she didn't know she wanted.

Even if it was only the result of sexual tension and sharing a room, she decided that she didn't mind it, and if possible she wanted to feel this way again. Like she was wanted. She laughed, if only he did like her, maybe she could learn to like him too.

* * *

Draco put some clothes on and headed out for a walk as was previously planned. He needed to cool off. Her reaction to their _sexcapades_ was confusing him. It was almost like she liked him. Letting her womanly needs be met by him in the spur of the moment was one thing. But to smile at him after the spur of the moment had passed and logical thinking was again at hand, well, that was just… not Granger. He was pretty sure that that had been the reaction of a woman who had no regrets about their sexual encounter.

Maybe he would just drop his pride and tell her that she was Rebecca. He shook his head at the thought. He couldn't just come out and say it like that. He ran a hand through his hair, either way it was time for him to fess up.

Draco walked around in the cold for a while longer then finally returned to the cabin to see that his blanket and pillow were no longer on the couch. He entered the room to find Granger sleeping in his bed. She'd left enough space for him to climb in.

"You trying to kill me?" he whispered raking a hand through his hair. Then sighed as he pulled off his clothes and got in beside her. She snuggled up to him and her warmth felt good on his cold skin. This was their last night at the camp and he supposed he could put up with the pain of resistance to savor it.

* * *

Nate stood against the wall, his body aching and his head pounding. They kept checking the door periodically but as of yet it didn't want to open.

"The damn thing came open so easily," he murmured. Tiffany scoffed and he shot her a glare that he was sure she couldn't see because all the lights had gone out at some point.

"Come here Jensen," she said and he felt her hands on his shoulders. She led him to the back wall then pushed down on his shoulders. "sit," she commanded.

"What for," he asked not liking being referred to like a dog.

"We're both tired of standing so lets utilize space and get comfortable." She began, then pushed his shoulders again. "Now, sit."

"Woof," he answered and slid down the wall.

"Good boy," she patted his head and he swatted her hand. "now," she continued and trailed her hands down his shoulders and arms to his hands. She lifted them up and placed them on her hips.

He sent her a questioning look, then remembered that she couldn't see him. But as if she knew, she answered his unspoken question.

"Hold me so I don't fall backward on you." she said and his hands slid across her stomach as she spun around. Then she put her hand on his indicating he should hold her tighter, as she lowered herself into a sitting position between his legs.

She leaned back against him and sighed.

"That's much better," she said.

"Why do I have to be the human pillow?" he asked putting his hands down at his sides, not knowing what else to do with them.

"Easy," she started, "you don't have boobs to crush," she answered.

"Right," he began, "But neither do you," He laughed and she swatted his arm.

"Well then," she started after his laughter settled, "because you're supposed to be a gentleman and not want me to be uncomfortable." she sighed.

"I'll accept that," he said, "What girl wouldn't want to cuddle up with this anyway?"

She scoffed. "That's right," she said sarcastically taking his hands and wrapping them around herself, "you're such a prize, I can hardly resist."

And then silence fell. Nate tried not to think of the situation.

"How long do you think we'll be in here?" he asked.

"The drama club will come in first thing in the morning after breakfast, so I think a good eight or nine hours from now." she said yawning.

He wanted to distract himself, but now he was thinking of the possibilities of nine hours with no interruptions.

"Do you mind?" she said scooting away from him a bit. "I don't know what you're thinking, but stop it."

Nate blushed.

"It happens okay," he said.

"Yeah well don't let it happen against me," she said.

"I can't guarantee anything but I'll try." He laughed.

"It's not funny Jensen," she said, "If you don't calm down, we may end up doing something stupid."

"Well you're certainly not helping by saying things like that, now are you?" he answered.

"Do you want to do something stupid?" she asked seductively, leaning back again.

"Why? Are you offering, Davis?" he asked his heart beating faster. She laughed.

"I'm going to get some sleep," she said, "You should get some too Jensen."

He bit his lip to stop from telling her how unfair that had been. Instead he sighed.

"Woof," he said.

"Good boy," She laughed, reaching up and patting his head.

**R&R and read The Darkness by Brinkmess.  
**


	12. Moving Forward?

**Thinking of writing a sequel for all of you who want it. Let me know. Thanks to all of you who are reading this story and I'm letting everyone know that I want to end this before twenty chapters. **

**I would like it if you all reviewed this chapter to comment on having a second story and about this chapter in general. **

**I put in a lot of point of views for you guys so I can start wrapping up the whole story. **

**If you don't want it to end, then your also free to let me know about that as well. **

**btw 1,060 something hits on that last chapter. You guys keep helping me break my records. I want to hit 200 reviews so I can cry at how happy I am. lol (I'm serious)**

**R&R**

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Innerhouse Relations

Chapter 12

Draco woke up in the middle of the night and felt terrible. He could swear that he'd just fallen asleep. He tilted his head to see the clock on the wall, and realized that he had. Only thirty-five minutes ago to be exact. He sighed, he'd done better than the last time, beating his record of twenty-two.

Every time she moved, he woke up to remember that he couldn't sleep. It was unlucky for him that she tossed a lot. Now he lay on his back with her head on his chest, one hand rested on his ribs and a long leg pulled up across his stiffness. Why was she punishing him?

He slid his hand down her side and over her bum, down her thigh to her calve. She shifted closer. He couldn't take this. He needed to get some sleep. He slowly untangled himself from her and stood from the bed. It was freezing. He took his pillow and tucked it under her head before lying down on her bed, pulling up the cold cover and finally passing out.

* * *

Hermione woke in the morning alone and sat up sleepily to see him lying across the way, in her bed. She'd heard him come in last night and felt him lay beside her. She must have been taking up the bed. She felt a bit guilty.

She got up, looking at the clock and realized breakfast was about to start. She sat on the edge of her own bed and shook Draco lightly.

"Hey, get up," she said. He didn't even move. "Draco, it's morning," she shook him again, a little harder. Still nothing.

Now she felt really guilty. She was kind of a wild sleeper sometimes. She must have kicked him out.

She got up and dressed, then deciding that he could probably use the sleep, she went to breakfast without him.

* * *

Nate was sore all over. His butt ached on the linoleum flooring. He was sure that there was a half hammered in nail protruding from the plaster wall, stabbing him in the back. And his legs had the fuzzy numb feeling of limbs that had fallen asleep. He needed to stretch but he couldn't.

You know that feeling you have when a cat is sitting on you and it falls asleep and it's too damn cute to disturb, even if you really need to get up. Yeah well, Davis was that cat.

She looked like she was getting the sleep of a lifetime and he really, _really_ wanted to ruin it, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Besides he was sure that they didn't have much longer to wait until someone let them out of this damn closet. After this, he was going to ditch this club stuff, get in the shower and sleep until they departed for Hogwarts tonight.

* * *

Hermione entered the mess hall and took a seat at the staff table. The students all looked excited to get to their clubs and were eating faster than normal.

"Morning," Kyle said from behind her, taking a seat at the table.

"Morning," she answered with a friendly smile.

"Where's Draco?" he asked with a smile, "You tire him out last night?" he laughed and Hermione laughed awkwardly realizing it was a joke.

"He's sleeping in. I couldn't get him up," she answered with a shrug.

"I'm sure you could if you tried," he answered with a chuckle. She looked at him confused and he stopped laughing. "Never mind," he sighed, realizing his humor went right over her head.

"So what are we doing today?" Hermione asked.

"Just introduction stuff, talking about what will be going on in the clubs." he shrugged as though the idea was very mundane and he was bored.

"I don't see why I have to be in the drama club. I was looking forward to shadowing the digital photography group," Hermione sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll try to make it fun," he smiled.

Hermione smiled back and was surprised when the chair beside pulled out loudly and Draco sat heavily down.

She looked up to say good morning, then realized that it didn't seem like that would describe his waking hours.

Kyle put up a hand. "Morning mate!" Kyle said cheerfully, and Draco glared at him, the bags under his eyes making his stare even darker than usual.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked and he sighed, reigning his dark mood as he half smiled at her.

"Fine," he mumbled.

Hermione smiled back halfheartedly a little unsettled that his perfect lying techniques were so impaired. She wanted to press him to tell her what was wrong but then had the stunning realization that, it was probably _her_ that was the problem. Maybe he was regretting what they had done last night. Maybe he was distressed at having betrayed Rebecca. What if he was mad that she had been in his bed when he got back to the cabin?

And just like that, all of those worries she hadn't bothered to think about last night, were coming down on her. She'd of course expected this, but was saddened by how quickly it had taken place. What did she think? They were just going to wake up the next morning and still be friends?

She wondered what he was thinking. He probably thought her a loose woman. She probably seemed so easy. What should she do? Tell him that she didn't always act like a tramp, and this was a special occasion?

She wished he would say something. Something to let her know that he wasn't mad at her. That last night wasn't going to change anything and that he knew that it was nothing but a mistake made by lustful young idiots.

But she didn't think it was a mistake. Infact, just last night, she was thinking that she wouldn't mind letting something like that happen with him again. Was she wrong to feel that way? It's not like she wanted to have sex with him… that would be to personal. But she loved the way he made her feel. Even if they just sat around talking to each other and he touched, or kissed her now and then, she'd be satisfied.

Was that so strange? That she really enjoyed his company and it made her want to be just a little intimate.

'_Of course it's wrong. He's your friend._' her head reminded her, and then she realized that she wouldn't do this sort of thing with Harry or Ron. So she probably shouldn't do them with Draco either. It was crossing a line that she couldn't define right now. But all she knew was that friendship didn't work that way.

Not only that, but she wasn't even giving Draco a say in the matter. He was probably hating himself right now and trying to find a way to tell Rebecca what had occurred. But he was the one who came to her. What if he liked it and perhaps felt the same way she did. Maybe he wanted to continue on that path with her. Jumping over that boundary that had no name in her mind.

How could she find out? What could she say? Was she supposed to just ask him out right.

'_Draco forget about Rebecca. Do you want to have another adventure with me?_'

Her morals may have been a little out of whack last night, but that was far too presumptuous for her to attempt. Besides, why would he leave Rebecca, who he clearly loved, for a fling with her?

That's it. She wasn't going to think about this. She wasn't a teenager anymore. She wasn't going to run from this. What she had done last night had been mutual. There was no reason to blame herself or feel bad about it. And she didn't regret what happened, so there was no need to pretend that she did, or that she should. Having sex was for adults, and she was one, she realized. So she needed to act accordingly.

There wasn't any reason to be ashamed, so she wouldn't be. She was going to just be herself and see what he does. If he didn't bring it up, neither would she, but she wasn't going to hide her feelings about it either.

She smiled at him.

"I hope you feel better." she said and hoped her sincerity reached him.

* * *

Draco was surprised with her. She wore a smile that he'd never seen before. She sounded friendly, but her voice was darker, not so sickly sweet. She was looking at him with confidence and her guard was down, but she wasn't free and aloof like she had been around him before. She was more aware of herself and strangely aware of him.

He couldn't describe the Granger that sat smiling at him, but she was absurdly breathtaking.

"Yeah," Kyle interjected, "feel better mate."

Draco clenched his jaw. Why was this guy still here?

"I'm not your mate." Draco said annoyed.

"Yipes!" Kyle began with a laugh, "Hermione, you sure this guy is as nice as you say?" he asked and Hermione frowned.

"Like I said," she began, "he just takes some getting used to. Pretty embarrassing to have told you all that stuff about him being a great guy yesterday and then he acts like a cretin like this." she finished shooting Draco a glare. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Right," Kyle smiled, "Don't worry I'll just stick extra close to you, incase he attacks. He seems to be mild mannered in your presence." he said and watched as Draco restrained himself. "See," Kyle laughed and Hermione looked up at Draco, "Looks like the safest place to be is close to you Hermione." He finished then stood from the table and headed over to speak to Terry.

Draco wasn't letting that guy anywhere near Hermione. Especially after last night. She belonged to him. Not officially yet, but he had a claim. He shook his head realizing how crazy he sounded to himself, and heard Hermione laugh from beside him.

"I finally found something that unnerves you." she said and he suddenly felt better hearing her new tone of voice.

"Yeah well," He said with a shrug.

"So what is it?" she asked and he looked up at her confused so she continued, "Why do you hate him so much? You've only spoken two words to Kyle but you look so upset when he's around." she looked at him quizzically.

Draco stared at her for a second. Leave it to Granger to be the only one in the world to not understand this situation. He wished she did get it. It would make his job a lot easier when he finally figured out how he was going to confess to her.

"He's too pretty," Draco shrugged and Hermione laughed.

"You're one to talk," she said and then she looked at him seriously, "Besides, he's got nothing on you." she said and Draco was at a loss for words.

He was really off his game today from lack of sleep. If he wasn't careful, she just might get an actual reaction out of him. Was this a total role reversal?

"Glad you think so," he said and she smiled at his delayed reaction.

"You must really not be feeling well to skip out on a chance for a narcissistic comment," she started, "Maybe you should just go back to the cabin and get some more sleep." she suggested.

_And give that Kyle guy a chance to get his dirty little hands on you?_

"No, I'm okay. Just need some food," He replied then started filling up a plate with breakfast.

Hermione smiled. She was glad that he wasn't avoiding her. And he didn't seem to be angry either, well at least not with her anyway. She made a plate for herself and ate up feeling like today was going to be a good one.

* * *

Tiffany had woken up a bit ago, but continued to lay were she was so that Jensen would stay unaware of her consciousness. She wasn't ready for him to be his awkward self about their situation.

Honestly, she'd meant what she'd said last night about something stupid happening. They were stupid teenagers and she wouldn't lie to herself about the obvious attraction she had for him. She would tell him eventually. As for now though, she wasn't ready for his immaturity about house restrictions.

She hated teen angst and she was smart enough to avoid it. That's why she hung out mostly with the less dramatic guys from the Quidditch team. Not only that, but she also admitted to the fact that, because she was a teen, she was bound to do stupid things that she wasn't completely able to understand. She never wanted to delude herself like the friends she knew that treated their lives like it was the end of the world.

Jensen needed time to cope with himself. It was obvious that he too, was attracted to her, but she wouldn't push anything. Maybe she'd just give him a hint.

She was surprised when she felt his hand on her head pulling the hair from her face. He let his hand trail down her neck, back, and butt, then he stopped and started over at the top of her head.

She was trying not to be angry, when he finally spoke.

"I know you're awake" he said with a laugh. She sighed but didn't sit up.

"What are you doing?" she asked annoyed.

"I was seeing if you'd lift your bum up like a cat when I pet you." He asked. And she gritted her teeth. She hated cats. They were snobby and girly. That wasn't her. She sat up and scooted away.

He stretched is body out, as far as he could in the space allotted.

"I guess," he began through a yawn, "it worked."

She smacked him on the arm.

"You could have just woke me, you know." she said with a sigh.

"Impossible." he said, "you were practically purring."

She looked at him confused and he smiled. He was so annoying and cocky. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why, of all the choices she had, she liked him. But she did.

"Jensen," she said getting on her knees and leaning in close to him. "Purring was I?"

Nate swallowed hard and back against the wall. And she laughed. Nate cleared his throat.

"They should be coming in from breakfast soon," He said turning away from her.

She smiled at him then got up and tried the knob of the door. Still stuck. She sat back down between his legs and they waited in silence.

* * *

Damien moped the entire way to the auditorium.

"Come on Scott," Tanner said and he and Spencer smiled.

"That's right mate," Spencer said, "I'm sure plenty of blokes have won over the woman they love with a bit of poetry," he smirked.

"Don't think I don't know that the both of you find this entertaining," Damien mumbled.

"Well, yeah," Tanner agreed, "but it's not only hilarious, it's good to see what comes of it all." he said and Spencer scoffed.

"No," he began, "I'm pretty much waiting for hilarity to ensue," he smirked and Tanner tried not to laugh with him.

"Look," Damien said, "I'll let you laugh it up for now," he shot them a glare, "but can you just stay out of my way for once while we're there."

"What do you mean," Tanner asked confused.

"It's too much to assume that you don't have some ridiculous plan cooked up for the both of us, and I know it." Damien said flippantly.

"And," Spencer began seriously, "What if we didn't have dastardly deeds in waiting, and you just gave us the idea." he asked.

"Don't feed me that," Damien scoffed. "Just stay out of my way, I know that it will be a task for your mischievous manner but-"

"You're one to talk," Spencer laughed.

"BUT," Damien continued, "For once, just give it a rest." He said and sped up his pace not wanting to give Nix a chance to argue.

Tanner and Spencer watched him go.

"That's impeccable, seriously," Tanner said, "To a tee really,"

"Yeah well," Spencer laughed, "Then he's well aware that what he said isn't going to stop my meddlesome ways," He said.

Tanner smiled and they set off to auditorium.

* * *

Draco and Hermione entered the auditorium and the students were running around on the stage. Davis and Jensen were laying on the floor with a crowed around them and Hermione wondered what was going on.

Finally Kyle came in and called everyone down from the stage.

"Alright," He began, "because today is the first day and we only have a half day, we're just going to go over the story of the Taming of the Shrew." he said then grabbed Hermione's wrist and pulled her to the front and when Draco glared he beckoned him to join them.

"Okay" Kyle continued once the three instructors stood before the students, Hermione in the middle. "First off, this story is a play, within a play. But that's not all that important, so I'll start with the general story. This," he said pointing to Hermione, "is Bianca. The most beautiful girl around" he said smirking at Hermione and the students laughed.

"He," Kyle pointed to Draco, "and I, are after the same thing. He's a hopeless romantic and when he lays eyes on Bianca's beauty, he thinks that there's no other woman for him. He decides that, no matter the cost, he's going to have her hand in marriage." Kyle said and all the student were beaming up at Draco.

Tanner stood up, "You can do it professor," he said and the crowed laughed. Draco sighed and made a mental note to find an ungodly essay topic for him when they got back to Hogwarts.

"Yes, yes," Kyle said settling the students, "As for me, I'm a player. Not so much concerned with keeping Bianca for love, so much as getting what I want from this sweet and innocent girl, and marrying her just to have her for myself." he said putting an arm around Hermione's shoulders and pulling her close. The students laughed and Draco put his hands in his pockets and tried not to be to angry.

"Now Draco and I have one problem that stops us from having our chance to woo sweet Bianca." The students all listened closely. Kyle lifted a finger, pointing to two students in the back trying to sneak away, "You two, come to the front." He said and Davis and Jensen looked at each other. "Yes, I'm talking to you," he said with a laugh.

Tiffany and Nathan walk to the front.

"Now," Kyle continued, pointing to Tiffany, "This is Bianca's older sister Katherine, and she is our shrew," He said and Nate laughed before Tiffany punched him in the arm, "And too perfect a girl she is for the part," Kyle laughed, "Well, this woman spoke her mind, challenged every man who had the nerve to speak to her and sent them heading for the hills. In other words, she was tough," Everyone laughed at how fitting it seemed in comparison to Tiffany and she rolled her eyes.

"Unfortunately, for Draco and I, she is absolutely unmarketable. Why is that bad for us you ask. Well their dear father wont let any suitors woo his youngest daughter, until his oldest daughter is wed, ensuring that he will never lose his prized baby girl." Kyle said then walked over to Nate.

"That's were he comes in. This man has no shame and for a price offers to tame the shrew and wed her. He insists that she wont possibly be able to scare him away and that if he marries into her rich family, he could care less how undesirable the shrew, as long as he has the riches." he explained.

"So that's the basic gist of the story." Kyle said then pointed to a desk in the back. "Scripts are on the back table. I've also been informed by Minerva that a lot of you may have joined this club for less than wholesome reasons and she told me that if any of you are messing around I'm free to send you out. From there, your club will be decided by the dart bored. So I hope we all have fun and it doesn't resort to that." He said and the student all looked ashamed. He smiled. "Anyway, there's not much we can do today, so go ahead and chat amongst yourselves for a few hours. I'd hate to start today and have you guys just forget everything over your winter break that's coming up."

The students retrieved scripts and began chatting and flipping through pages.

"So, Hermione," Kyle began pulling out his iPod, "Want to have a listen?" he asked and Hermione's eyes lit up. She hadn't seen or used her own MP3 in ages and didn't even think to bring it with her to camp.

"Yeah," she said excitedly then turned to Draco who stood glaring at Kyle, "Want to listen to some muggle stuff?" she asked and Kyle smiled his wide toothy smile at him from behind Hermione's back.

"Pass," he mumbled and she gave him a disappointed look before shrugging and turning, and walking to sit on the edge of the stage with Kyle.

Draco watched as they sat close and put a plug into each of their ears that was connected to a cord that drew them too close together. He handed her an electronic device and she smile at the little screen, moving her fingers across it. She laughed, pointing to something on the screen and Kyle shrugged and smiled. When she looked back down, he looked up and caught Draco's eye directly and smiled moving if possible closer to Hermione and put his hand on hers pulling the iPod where he could see it and pointed to something on the screen and they both laughed.

Draco was going to murder this guy.

"You just going to take that?" Tiffany spoke from beside him and he looked around to see that plenty of the students were watching the scene with disapproving looks at him or evil glares at Kyle.

"Davis," Draco warned.

"No, seriously," Nate chimed in, "Do something." looking like he hated to see this Kyle guy close to Hermione too.

"Both of you," Draco said darkly, "go read a script or something, will you?"

Tiffany sighed and Nate glared at the professor before they turned and walked away. All the students watched him and he decided that he was too tired to bother with this right now. Besides Kyle was hardly going to seduce Granger in front of a group of students. He didn't want to sit here watching this.

He turned around and left deciding that he was better off going back to the cabin and figuring out how he was going to tell Granger that she and Rebecca were one in the same. Even brooding over that was better than being here.

* * *

It was some time later when Hermione and Kyle closed the YouTube page on his iPod touch and started dismissing the kids to go and pack up for departure.

"Don't forget to take a script," Kyle said, "Look it over during your holiday's."

When all the students were gone he looked at Hermione, "You really don't pay attention to much when you're engulfed in something, do you?" He asked in disbelief.

"What?" Hermione ask confused. "By the way, where did Draco disappear to?" She asked.

Kyle lowered his head and pinched his nose.

"Apparently not…" he mumbled.

"What," Hermione asked, and he cleared his throat.

"I think he probably went back to your cabin," Kyle sighed.

"Well, I better get packing as well," she said then turned to him, "Thanks for the music session, and catching me up on the millions of videos I've missed out on. I'm looking forward to coming back here after break." she said.

"I'll be looking forward to see how things are doing with you after break ends as well," he said with a smile, and Hermione was feeling like there was something she was meant to decode in his words. He waved her goodbye and exited, leaving her to her thoughts.

* * *

Draco sat on his bed writing a letter to Rebecca. He just couldn't find the right words to say, and he doubted there ever would be such words. He sighed and stuck the unfinished letter in and envelope marked 'Rebecca' and shoved it in his bag. He'd work on it when they got back to Hogwarts.

Hermione came into the room and found Draco packing up.

"What, happened to you?" Hermione asked, pulling her bag from the floor and sitting on her bed to get things in order.

"Decided to get some rest after all," He answered, as he picked up one of his stray shirts from the ground.

"I'm glad," she said and smiled pulling one of her bras from under the bed, "You feeling any better?" she continued.

"Not really, no," he sighed finding one of her socks and tossing it to her.

"Maybe you should visit the nurse before we go," she said catching her sock and rolling it up with it's mate from the edge of her bed. Then she handed him a pare of boxers while smiling.

"No, I'll be fine once we get back to Hogwarts," he said snatching the boxers with a smirk. He picked up his towel and rolled it up. "How did we manage this?" he asked motioning to the mess in the room, then looking up at Hermione with a smile. She laughed.

"I really don't know," she said watching as he pulled his pajama pants from under her bed and they laughed.

Things were more than fine between them, Hermione thought. They were better than they ever had been.

* * *

"I don't know how I let you guys talk me into this," Damien sighed, being dragged through the trees, to the back of the girls cabin.

"It'll be fun Scott," Tanner said with a tight hold on Damien's forearm.

"That's right buddy," Spencer laughed, "you might even get a good look at Danielle if you're lucky."

"I don't need to sneak around to get what I want from Marcy," Damien scoffed.

Damien's pace sped up a bit and both Tanner and Spencer smiled at each other. Finally they reached the back window of the girls cabin. They stood on a pushed over log that, no doubt, boys with the same idea had placed so appropriately long before them.

Inside the window they looked down at a group of girls sitting on the floor laughing.

* * *

Danielle didn't know why she let Jasmine talk her into this. She just wasn't the type for girl talk and really had no way of interacting with the others. Jasmine and the other girls shared a look at the window behind her and when she turned to see what was so interesting Jasmine yelled out scaring her lifeless.

"Danielle! How about you?" she asked and Danielle looked at all of them felling confused. She hadn't really been following their banter too closely. Jasmine sighed. "Do you like anyone right now?"

Danielle thought about that and blushed. "Not really…" she said and the girls booed her.

"Come on," said a Hufflepuff girl. "You don't have to lie."

"Well," Danielle thought about it, "I don't know if it really counts since so many girls like him, but Spencer Nix is a pretty nice guy," She answered and all the girls looked at her shocked and then at each other and then out the window. Danielle felt awkward. "Is that weird?" she asked feeling self-conscious. And the girls halfheartedly smiled.

"No," jasmine began excitedly, "That's just so normal and boring." she said, and all the girls nodded. Then another girl chimed in.

"Don't you like anyone else, I mean what girl hasn't liked Spencer? How about, I don't know, Damien Scott?" She asked and all the girls shot her a look.

"Scott?" Danielle asked unable to grasp that concept.

"Yeah," Jasmine said quickly, "He's an absolute hunk yeah?" she finished and all the girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"_Gorgeous_ he is," one girl agreed dreamily. Danielle sat there for a second processing that.

"Well yeah, he is I suppose," she said and the girls smiled at her. Then another girl spoke.

"He's also quite nice to you, I noticed," the girl smiled at her.

Danielle felt like there was something wrong here.

"Yeah, he's been just a bit more tolerable than usual," She mumbled.

"So what about him? Would you ever consider dating Scott?" Jasmine smiled nudging her with and elbow. Danielle looked around the group as the girls watched her with bated breath. She liked him it was true, but he was to overbearing and she was sometimes afraid of him. He was unpredictable. Nice sometimes and scarily forceful others.

In truth, it wasn't his forcefulness that was the problem, it was that she didn't understand his intentions. At times she would think he liked her and then right after he was back to calling her a mudblood.

"Well?" Jasmine asked.

"I um," she began, trying to make a choice. "If he could figure out if he wanted to be a friend or a foe, it would be easier to answer that." she said and all the girls nodded.

"Supposing, he continued to get along with you, do you like the good things about him enough to give him a chance?" Jasmine continued.

Danielle was feeling like this was more of a counseling session than a girl talk thing.

"I do like the good things about him," she thought, "like today we actually carried on a pretty good conversation," she said, "but, it would take a lot to convince me that he was totally reformed after all the hell I've been through with him these past few years," She said and the girls all drooped over and sighed.

Danielle watched their disappointment and couldn't understand it.

"But," she began and they all looked up at her, "if he continued being the way he is now, then yes, I would date him," then she laughed, "like that will ever happen, by tomorrow I'll be caught in another of his mood swings," She sighed and was shocked at the smiles and smirks the girls sent her.

"What?" she asked and Jasmine smiled at her.

"It's just that, I think you'll be surprised at how this Innerhouse thing has changed him. Anyway, as your new best friend I'm holding you to your word." she said and Danielle was seriously confused.

"Okay," she said, then laughed at the thought, "if he changes, I'll jump at the chance to date him."

Everyone watched her and then started laughing and Danielle was sure that they were all just as aware of how ridiculous it was that she and him could one day be an item.

Jasmine turned to the window and smirked before announcing to the girls that they should really get packing.

Damien sat on the log under the girls cabin window with two annoying prats.

"See," Spencer said, putting his arm around Damien's shoulders, "Didn't we tell you it'd be fun?" Tanner and Spencer laughed as Damien headed back to the cabin to finish packing.

* * *

Hermione and Draco sat across from each other on the Hogwarts Express. He was passed out across the seat and she was trying to read her book but couldn't concentrate. All she could think about was the letter sticking out of the side compartment of his bag sitting on the floor.

She couldn't see all of what was written on the envelope, but it was obvious that it was Rebecca's name.

She hated herself so much for wanting to know what it said. For even letting the thought of reading his personal belongings cross her mind. She just could help but wonder what it was about. Maybe he was telling her about what happened between them. Of course he would, but she hated to think that Rebecca would know what a traitorous snake Hermione was.

But what if he was leaving her. Hermione's heart raced at the idea. It excited her and suddenly she had to know what the damned letter said.

She reached over as quietly as possible as not to disturb Draco. She slid it from the pocked and froze to look up at him as the paper sounded far louder to her than it really was. Her paranoia passed when he didn't stir. She pulled the envelope out and was glad to see that he hadn't wax sealed it yet because she didn't want to have to search out McGonagall to retrieve her wand.

She stood from her seat and quietly left the compartment. She traveled down a corridor until she got to a bathroom and locked herself in.

"I shouldn't do this," she said to herself, but she'd already demoralized herself so much over this trip, what was the harm in one more little bad deed. Settling with herself that it needed to be done, she pulled the letter out and unfolded it quickly. She was shocked to see that it was only a few sentences and unsigned. Apparently he hadn't finished it.

She read.

_What I did was wrong and I should have told you sooner. But I realize now that I want you to know that you're the one I want to be with. What I did may be unforgivable but you're the only one I want._

Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach.

She had thought that he may feel the same but here he was finalizing his relationship with Rebecca.

She felt so stupid, she wanted to cry. She just couldn't figure out why this upset her so much. It was like their encounter had made him realize who he wanted. And it most certainly wasn't her.

Hermione returned the letter to his bag then grabbed her stuff and left the compartment. She was so embarrassed, how was she supposed to face him again? It wasn't as if he knew how she felt. She had a few choices she could make.

1. Pretend that nothings changed and go on with the friendship they built.

2. Tell him how she felt and risk being shot down. Or…

3. She could turn away from this and run like she always did.

She realized then that she didn't want to, more like, she couldn't be his friend. She wasn't sure what else their was, but she wanted it to be different. She also couldn't bare to think of what would happen if she told him how she felt about him. She wasn't even sure what the feeling was. What would she say…?

'_Draco I can't be your friend because whenever we're together I want you to touch me and I cant help but be jealous of Rebecca and you're relationship. Just leave her and we can hang out like normal and laugh together and , and…'_

That was just stupid and he would think she was mental, then she'd have to hear him try to turn her down and be nice about it. The worst part was that from then on, things would probably be awkward because he would assume she liked him.

Liked him…?

LIKED HIM?!

Hermione was having a panic attack. She liked Draco Malfoy. That wasn't even the bad part. She liked someone who was completely unattainable. Why would the first man that she wanted, be in love with someone else. She hated the way she felt right now. More than anything, she hated that she was well aware that she was panicking, but she couldn't bring herself to think this out rationally.

It was decided. Number three it was. She headed to McGonagall's booth.

"Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked, surprised when Hermione entered the small room crying.

"I'm sorry McGonagall but I have to resign from my position at Hogwarts," she said and McGonagall pulled her in to take a seat.

"Miss Granger," She began, "You made a commitment and I'm sure you understand that by leaving, I and the school will be greatly disappointed." she explained.

"I know, but I really have to go. I just can't," Hermione trailed off.

"Perhaps if you were to just talk about it." McGonagall suggested and Hermione shook her head unable to rise beyond her embarrassment to tell McGonagall anything without breaking out in tears.

McGonagall watched her and finally sighed.

"If you feel that it's what you need Miss Granger, then I cant stop you," she said, not being the type to pry in other peoples affairs. If she didn't want to speak about it, she wouldn't force her. Just as it wasn't her place to speak for Draco.

"I'm so sorry," Hermione said as she stood up. McGonagall stood up and gave her a comforting hug.

"You'll be welcomed back whenever you get things in order." she said and Hermione nodded.

"Thank you for everything Professor," Hermione said wiping her face.

Hermione walk out of the compartment and McGonagall felt bad for the girl. She could guess what was going on. If Draco would have just- but again, that wasn't for her to decide.

* * *

Draco woke up as the Hogwarts Express was coming to a stop. He was surprised that Granger hadn't woken him up sooner. Then he realized she wasn't there. When he noticed that her bag was missing it didn't take him long to realize that she hadn't just gone to the loo.

Something had happened and with the way she overreacted to things, he was sure that he was going to have to catch her before she did something stupid. He grabbed his bag and headed for the exit.


	13. The Debate

**Over 2,000 hits last chapter and well over 200 long and lovely reviews. YOU GUYS RULE!**

**As for the sequel thing. Looks like you'll get one. But just in case, I'll ask again at the end of the story.**

**In my reviews I noticed that plenty of you are choosing sides.**

**Poor Hermione.**

**Poor Draco.**

**Well leave me a review with the name of the person who's fault you think all of this is, after reading this chapter. **

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* * *

Innerhouse Relations

Chapter 13

Hermione sat on the Hogwarts Express as it departed for Kings Cross. She didn't really have anywhere to go but she didn't have time to make preparations. She knew that if she had gone into the castle something would have stopped her from leaving.

She didn't have an apartment to return to since leaving her job at the Ministry. She felt it unnecessary to pay rent on a place when she was going to be spending most of her year at Hogwarts. She didn't want to go back to her parents house because they wouldn't leave her alone about why she'd come so unexpectedly, and she wasn't going to explain this situation to them.

She sat there coming up with a few ideas of where she'd go when she got back to London. Once she was settled she'd send for her things. Hermione closed her eyes and sat back in her seat unaware that just outside her window an image of Draco searching for her was being passed by.

* * *

Tiffany was sitting at the Slytherin table for breakfast Monday morning when she noticed something strange. The seat beside Professor Malfoy, who looked by the way, a bit worse for wear, was empty today. She figured that they had had another argument and that Professor Granger was hiding in her room as she often did when they argued.

She wished that Professor Malfoy would just stop all this nonsense. It was painful for her to think that even at that age, she would have to deal with adolescent behaviors like his. Professor Granger, she understood. She was unaware of his feelings toward her and was probably increasingly confused about where she stood in their relationship. All of this was his fault. She was so annoyed that she couldn't even eat.

Tiffany left to History class early and waited in her seat for class to begin.

When everyone had arrived they sat waiting for some time until McGonagall entered the room and everyone looked at each other confused.

"Good morning," McGonagall addressed them and they all fell silent. "I'm sorry to inform you that Professor Granger will not be returning due to a personal emergency," All the students looked at one another skeptically. "As of today, this period will be a study hall until further notice." she finished and the student raised their hands well aware that they wouldn't get any information from their tightlipped Headmistress, but still needing to try.

McGonagall watched all the hands shoot into the air and sighed.

"I'm sorry, but that's all I know," She said and left the room without another word. She stepped into the hall and heard the uproar start up as she returned to her office. The students were all probably well aware of why their professor was missing.

Tiffany couldn't believe things had gone this far. Professor Granger was as responsible as they come.

"If she hadn't been all over that Kyle guy at the camp, then Professor Malfoy would have asked her out." she heard a Gryffindor boy in the back say, and she could hardly believe it.

"How can you say that?" a Slytherin guy beside her said, "If Professor Malfoy had just been more direct, than none of this would have happened." and Tiffany nodded her head along side many others from both Gryffindor and Slytherin.

"How more painfully obvious could he have been?" said a Slytherin girl, "It wasn't Professor Malfoy's fault that she was so unaware when everyone more than understood what he wanted with her."

The first boy from Gryffindor agreed and was shoved by a Gryffindor girl.

"How was she supposed to get it? He was being cryptic. Then we find out from the fifth years that he went and made up some girl to confuse her even more." she said and Tiffany agreed.

"He had to. If he would have said anything to her after she so obviously labeled him as 'just a friend' then that's all he would have been." a Gryffindor girl said.

"Or he could have just told her sooner before he decided to chat it up with her, being all friendly." a Slytherin said.

"It's not his fault that she was so dense, he wasn't chatting her up, he was completely coming on to her and we all saw it," Nathan said and Tiffany couldn't believe that he was taking Professor Malfoy's side, when he could barely figure out his own feelings. She looked at him as she spoke.

"If Professor Granger wasn't getting the point than he should have been more direct instead of continuing his stupid methods. She obviously liked him back, so he shouldn't have kept up the charade. He was being just as thick as she was. Didn't he think that if he'd just told her what was going on, that she would realize that what she wanted wasn't friendship, but a relationship." She said, and people looked shocked that she, of all people, was joining in the drama as she continued.

"They were both being naive, but he was the one that wanted her so he should have just been honest in the first place. You cant blame her for assuming that they were 'just friends' if he didn't have the nerve to correct her. We all have trouble understanding our feelings sometimes. Especially when it comes to feelings we have about people that we believe we shouldn't have any feelings for because of who they are or where they come from," she finished and there were murmurs of agreement from a lot of people who knew exactly what she was talking about due to recent events. Nate glared at her.

"Say what you like Davis," Nate began, "but she was just as free to tell him her feelings. Instead she ran away. Why should Professor Malfoy have to chase after her again and again? It's not his fault that she can't sort out her own feelings. She should be the one to tell him how she feels, after all the suffering he had to go through with her." plenty of students nodded and cheered.

"Suffering?" Tiffany began shocked, "He wasn't the one being emotionally thrown around. Besides, Professor Granger couldn't say anything to him. Being under the impression that he liked someone else, she was held up about her feelings."

Some student agreed and others scoffed.

The good news? House hatred had officially come to an end. The bad? Every house was now divided. From here on, Hogwarts had a new kind of division taking place in it's school. Down the halls a debate that almost every student had an opinion on, had begun. Which Professor had been right? Or more like which one had been more wrong?

* * *

Draco sat at the staff table for dinner feeling confused. Not because of Grangers disappearance, no. He'd had time to stew over that plenty. He was at a loss because of the students strange seating choice for tonight's dinner.

At the head of the Slytherin table sat, of all people, Nathaniel Jensen. Following close behind were more than a few students from every house in a mix of faces he'd never imagined he'd be seeing seated together. All of the people at this table were glaring at housemates and what he was sure were former friends, sitting at the Gryffindor table.

On the far opposite side of the room at the Head of the Gryffindor table sat Tiffany Davis, strange enough, with the same particular arrangement on mixed students. But unlike at the Slytherin table, these students didn't bother to glare at their table counter parts, but instead pointed their dark looks in his direction.

He knew that he had been out of it today, but what had he missed really?

Sitting at the two middle tables were less kids but they all seemed normal enough, besides the mix of houses. They were laughing and talking excitedly. Every once in a while a student stood up and would join one of the two outer tables. Strangely, maybe it was just him, but it looked like the table shooting dirty looks at him was growing in numbers.

Draco looked down the staff table and it seemed the other teachers found this just as strange as he did. All but one.

* * *

McGonagall smiled at Draco when he looked at her. She could hardly believe the outcome of Hermione's sudden retreat. Not to say that she was glad for her to be gone, by any means. She only meant that her absence had stirred up something for the students to join forces for. It was what she was missing all along. The students had such strong feelings over their professors relationship, that it was causing them to finally realize that their housemates wouldn't always be on their side, and that other house could share common interest or opinions. She couldn't have asked for, nor come up with, a better way to get the students to come to this kind of revelation.

Force had done what it could, but both Malfoy and Granger's presence here at the school had really done the job more efficiently than she could have ever hoped. With in a week house hatred had been broken down.

All she had left to do was to ensure that Miss Granger didn't return too soon, as to give the students time to cope with this new division. She needn't worry about that. Granger would return, but in time. And when she and Draco reconciled, so too would the houses. Only now there would be an understanding between everyone.

She watched as Malfoy stood from the table and left through the staff door and smiled. He would figure things out and do what needed to be done, she was sure of that.

* * *

Damien sat beside Danielle at one of the neutral tables. He was enjoying the effects of Professor Granger's sudden absence immensely. Aparentlly Danielle felt sorry for the both of them and thought that the students were wrong to put the blame on either of them for a stupid misunderstanding.

How did he feel, you ask. Well he couldn't care less. He knew they'd eventually stop with the idiocy and realize their feelings. What was the point of him getting worked up over it. He could hardly believe that so many people were taken by this crap. Tiffany Davis for example, never cared about this kind of stuff.

Hey he wasn't complaining. He was looking like a good guy to Danielle and had good reason to sit and chat with her. They were more than getting along. He was sure that she was into him. He was going to be so damn nice that she had no choice but to date him when he asked.

"So Marcy," he began once she'd stopped laughing at his earlier joke, "Would you mind me calling you Danielle?" he asked and she stared at him for a long time. Whenever he did or said things now, she would always do this. As though searching for the underlining danger he presented by being too nice. He smirked at her and she blushed.

"I suppose there's nothing wrong with that." she said dismissively.

"So Danielle," he started and watched her face redden at his casual tone. "Would you be interested in going out to the pitch with me. You're the best chaser on your team and I could use a good practice at the posts," he smiled at her wide eyed expression.

"It's freezing out Scott," she said in disbelief, and he smirked at her.

"If you're not up to it than it's fine I suppose," he said with a shrug, "I just thought that you wouldn't whine about something so trivial, is all," he said and she glared at him, "Or maybe you don't want to be shown up. I understand. Don't think you'll present much of a challenge?" he smiled at her as she stood from the table and grabbed his arm.

"Come on you prat," she said and he smirked. He may be a lot nicer now but he still had it.

* * *

Draco was waving the white flag. That group of students wasn't giving up on staring daggers at him, so he retreated. What had gotten into all of them? After only a seconds deliberation, he was sure that it had something to do with Granger. Did they think that her leaving was his fault?

He was taking a nap and discovered her gone. How could he have been the cause? And the help McGonagall offered when he'd asked her what happened wasn't help at all.

'_She came to me and was quite distressed. Then she asked to resign.'_

That's all the old woman would say and he knew damn well that she knew more than that. He was pissed off. Just as he had decided to tell Granger how he felt she up and had an emotional breakdown over god knows what. He didn't even know where she was. Not that even if he did he'd go after her.

Not because he didn't want to, but because he had a job to do and couldn't just let his personal feelings impair him like that. He was shocked that Granger, of all people, had let it happen to her.

He got to his room and lied down. Winter vacation would start after this week and he'd be going back to the manor. Maybe instead, he could search for her then. Maybe try to find out what happened. He had to get her to come back. There was no point in teaching at Hogwarts now if she wasn't here. The weeks were going to drag on and he couldn't stand to think of how abysmal the year would be. And he couldn't possibly run out on McGonagall, leaving her with two irresponsible teachers.

He would find her then, he decided, and went to his writing desk to start a letter. If there was one person that would know were Hermione was it was Potter. Not that he could write Harry Potter a letter to or anything.

* * *

"So he told you that he was in love with some girl named Rebecca?" Harry asked then looked at Blaise in confusion. Hermione nodded.

"I'm sorry again to have come here without warning," Hermione said sipping her tea.

"No problem Hermione," Harry said putting an arm around her shoulders. On the other side of the living room Blaise sat in the chair across from the couch smiling.

"He's right," he began and Hermione blushed, "I'm just glad you're finally talking. Thought I'd never get in the loo this morning." he said and harry shot him a warning glance. Blaise just shrugged.

"It's an old habit. I, um," Hermione began embarrassed, "I, didn't know that you and Harry…" she trailed off and Blaise and Harry looked at each other confused then at Hermione.

"NO!" Harry yelled and Blaise gagged. "Oh god no. It's not like that. We're roommates. Different rooms and everything. Hermione, you've known me forever. Why the hell would you think that I…"

"I'm so sorry," Hermione said in shock, "I just thought-"

Blaise pointed at Harry.

"Even if I was, I could get a better bloke than him," he said in disgust and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Blaise wanted to live away from his parents for a while to concentrate on training and he thought muggling it for a while would be fun." Harry explained.

"You mean roughing it?" Hermione asked confused, and Harry shrugged.

"It's what he calls it." he said and Blaise laughed.

"Its all the same really isn't it?" Blaise said "This muggle stuff is though. I haven't washed my clothes in a while because I don't want to bother with that bloody contraption." he said pointing to the washing machine with an accusing finger and Hermione laughed. "Unbeknownst to me, bleach and liquid detergent aren't the same thing."

"_Anyway_," Harry cut in, "I got this two bedroom for when Teddy comes to live with me after I get done with auror training." he explained and Hermione smiled.

"How is he?" Hermione asked and was glad to see Harry's face light up.

"Big," he answered, "Well Molly keeps saying that she needs to feed him more or he wont grow up big and strong. But you know her. She's under the impression that he'll thin out like all of hers did." He finished and they laughed.

Blaise cleared his throat, feeling left out.

"Right," Harry said, "So what happened with Malfoy now?" he asked and Hermione sighed, letting sadness engulf her.

She continued the story, from beginning to end not leaving anything out (even the parts that Harry wished she would have) and finally, after plenty of questions from the two men between, she wrapped up her tale.

"So, that's it," Hermione said and was feeling much better after having gotten out every detail. Blaise tried to keep from laughing.

"Excuse me," he said and disappeared from the room. Hermione watched him go. Was something funny? She looked at Harry, who was staring ahead blankly.

"What?" she asked and Harry shook his head.

"Um, give me a sec will you?" he said, getting up and following Blaise.

When Harry enter Blaise's room he found him with his head stuffed in a pillow, trying to control his laughter. Harry quickly closed the door.

"How can you find this funny," Harry asked annoyed, "It's more sad than anything," He said.

Blaise calmed himself slowly before speaking.

"They're," He began then started to laugh and had to calm himself again. When he got himself in order, he cleared his throat and continued. " They're so fucking stupid," then continued to chuckle.

"Hey," Harry began, "Hermione's not…" he trailed off, unable to say the rest of that and mean it for the first time. "Okay, so they're a bit thick."

"A bit" Blaise looked skeptical.

"Really thick," Harry corrected holding in a laugh, "But we cant just sit here laughing at them. It's sort of our fault that they're going through this, you know." Harry said and Blaise sighed.

"Do we have to help? I'm sure it'll work itself out. I'd rather have a front row seat for the show. Come on, we can pop some popcorn and sit back and watch." He said.

"You don't even know how to use the microwave," Harry laughed.

"Don't need to, I've still got a wand you know. Come on Harry, it'll be all in good fun," Blaise said and Harry kind of wanted to agree but he, unlike Blaise, couldn't sit back and watch his friend suffer.

He was about to explain that, when there was a knock on the door and Hermione poked her head in.

"Sorry," she said, "An owl just arrived for you Blaise."

Harry took the letter and handed it to Blaise. They both knew who it was from. The only

person who wrote Blaise at this address was Draco.

"Thanks," Blaise smiled at Hermione as she exited the room and they heard her in the kitchen fixing more tea.

Blaise looked up at Harry with an evil grin before opening the letter. Harry stood there impatiently as Blaise read. When Blaise folded up the letter with a chuckle, Harry addressed him in annoyance.

"Well?" he said and Blaise laughed.

"He asked me to keep a look out for Hermione and that I should ask you if you knew her whereabouts. He asked me to let him know if you have any idea were she went." he smiled up at Harry with a dark grin. "Come on mate, this is the perfect set up and you know it."

Harry thought that over. Blaise was always messing with people like this. It was always really fun to watch, true enough, but this was Hermione they were talking about. It was all fun and games when it came to Malfoy, but he didn't want Hermione to get hurt.

"Does Malfoy intend to come after her?" Harry asked.

"I suppose. Why else would he want to know where she was?" Blaise shrugged.

"What if he just sends a letter or something? Hermione is going to kill us if she finds out that we told him where to find her and then he doesn't show up in person to reconcile. I know Hermione and a letter wont prove anything to her. She'll think he's just trying to be nice or something." Harry explained.

"Look," Blaise said, "We keep her here until I figure out what Draco wants to do, and then we tell him she's here if he plans to show up. What can go wrong? If they're face to face, he'll have no choice but to tell her the truth. I mean what kind of man travels to your doorstep to find you if they don't love you. There's no way she can misinterpret that." He said giving Harry a pleading look.

Harry ran a hand through his hair. It was true that as long as Malfoy showed up in person, there wasn't much room for misunderstanding his intentions.

"Fine," Harry conceded and Blaise hopped off his bed and sat at his desk setting to work on a reply.

Harry felt like he was making a mistake, but how could Hermione really not get it after this?

* * *

Hermione watched as Harry made a bed for himself on the couch later that night.

"I can sleep out here really," she tried for the hundredth time.

"Hermione, it's fine," He said in exasperation. "Take my room for as long as you're here, I don't want you spending another night in the bathroom. And don't mind making yourself at home. If you need to borrow my clothes than go ahead, and the food, T.V. and washer are at your disposal." Harry smiled at her and lied down in his makeshift bed.

Hermione smiled back feeling extremely guilty. Harry could see her apprehension.

"Really Hermione," he began with sincerity, "I want you here. And I glad that you came to me with such a serious problem of yours. Take your time and figure things out. Blaise and I get up early for training and I hope you'll use that time to think. When I get back we can talk," he said and Hermione really did feel better.

"Thanks Harry," Hermione said leaning down and hugging Harry before turning out the light and heading for his room.

She was glad that she came to Harry. She thought of all the other people she could go to, but they all would have pressed the matter and started telling her what to do.

She was going to accept Harry's kindness and stay a while to think things through. One thing was for sure, she had to go back to Hogwarts at some point. She had a job to do and shouldn't have let her personal matters stand in the way of her responsibilities.

Hermione lied down and wondered if Draco had finished that letter and sent it off to Rebecca by now. She tried to ignore the pang in her chest at the thought of their budding relationship. Sighing and feeling like she was fresh out of tears from all the crying she did last night and this morning, she turned over and went to sleep.

* * *

Draco woke up the next morning to the tapping of an owl against his window. He shot out of bed and snatched the letter from it's leg. He ripped the letter open and read it frantically.

_Idiot,_

_She's here with us. In a right mess, she it. You had better not write her a stupid letter. Harry says that if you do, she'll dismiss it. Well, you know what that means don't you? Come and get her. I don't know how long we can keep her here, so you might not want to linger on your decision. Time to face the music mate. We'll leave the floo open for you._

_See you soon, it's been ages after all mate._

_-Blaise _

Draco folded up the letter. He couldn't just go and get her in the middle of the week. This wasn't some ruddy romance story were he could up and leave his job and responsibilities to run after a girl. No matter the case. What had Blaise expected? He hoped she'd still be there when the weekend came.

He sent Blaise his response and got ready for classes feeling at least better today, now that he knew where she was.

He pulled the letter to Rebecca from his bag an tore it up sighing. His little scribbles wouldn't do him any good anymore. he was going to have to tell her face to face. At least he had some time to think it out.

**Who's fault was it really? Review and let me know who you hate more? Lol It could be McGonagall's, Harry's or Blaise's fault for not telling Hermione the truth****.**


	14. The Double Standard

**Who's fault was it any way?**

Draco: 11

Hermione: 0

Both: 11

Others: 3

**Reference to Draco needing to grow balls: **3

**Sympathy for what the students are going through:** 3

I love debates!

**My faves were from:**

In Dreams

HarryPGinnyW4eva

xXblackheartzXx

**My opinion?**

Hermione is the one to blame. Draco may have made up Rebecca, but if you go back through the chapters you'll notice that he never once thought of the mistake he made by giving his crush a name. most of that crap about Rebecca was all in her head and so, Draco had no idea that she was even thinking of Rebecca as an obstacle in their relationship.

If he'd have known what she was thinking, or that she cared so much, he would have told Hermione that he broke things off with Rebecca and that he was single.

Hermione was the one pushing him away when ever he made her feel things that she was convinced she shouldn't feel for him. He gave it his all and even if he wasn't being straight forward, (which he was, but she didn't get it,) I cant blame him because he was trying from beginning to end. He just didn't want to get hurt.

Hermione did exactly what he was doing but worse. She wasn't being straight forward, and she was protecting her own emotions every time he got too close. She ignored how she felt about Rebecca and didn't bother to examine her jealousy and what it could mean.

She blinded herself and didn't try hard enough. There's only so far being naïve can take you before you really should get the message.

It's a double standard. She get sympathy for being dumb and he gets yelled at. He's a man, he should grow balls, chase after her and tell her what's going on, when in real life, he's the one who deserves to be told what's happening. He's the one missing out on half the story because she'd keeping to herself.

Or maybe we are all just so used to the normal fanfictions.

**Okay, if you even took the time to read all that then I hope I swayed you a bit.** ^_^

**New Question!**

My mother was on my aol account reading my reviews to me because I don't have internet at my house. She does that _mom_ thing and starts telling me that she's so proud and what not. So she calls my grandma into the room to have her read them. She does the _grandma_ thing too.

So my mom says "This story sounds so good, it makes me want to read it." She's also intrigued because her name (Rebecca) is mentioned quite a bit. My grandmother agrees.

So I'm super embarrassed to have my conservative granny and my not so conservative mom read my sexual story. I tell them "You wouldn't get it because you've never read Harry Potter."

My granny who's a super big fan of the movies says "but I know that Draco is that little bad kid isn't he? I'll get it."

Finally I convince my granny that she doesn't want to read it because there's sex in it.

My mom on the other hand wants to read it. She says "What ever you wrote, I've been through it and know worse. I wont find it raunchy."

I know this is true, after all, I'm the pervert I am today, because of her. I told her that I'd ask my fans and she thought that was a great idea.

So the question is…

**Should I let my 40 something year old mom read this story and leave a review with all her momness in it?**

**Don't worry about what you say in the reviews, my mom will eat it up. So be honest.**

* * *

Innerhouse Relations

Chapter 14

Hermione got up the next morning feeling refreshed. She'd had a good dream, something about traveling and teaching in other countries. She couldn't remember the details but was glad that her subconscious hadn't eaten away at her in her sleep, like it normally would when she was stressed.

She looked at the red lit numbers on the digital clock beside her and was shocked with the time. It was already one in the afternoon. She couldn't remember sleeping in this late since the summer of fifth year before life had started to become hard. She missed her childhood.

Sighing and deciding not to ruin her excellent mood with the facts of life, she stood from the bed and set to work on having a normal, uneventful, muggle day of solitude.

Hermione had a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, with 2% milk while sitting on the sofa channel surfing. She settled on watching a soap and cringed at the awful acting, but found it more amusing the longer she watched.

"_How can you not understand Isabella?" the man said dramatically. The woman looked at him confused and then anger sparked in her._

"_How can I understand? You're the one that wants to be my friend one moment and then my enemy the next Edward." she said crossing her arms over her chest. Edward looked at her in disbelief. _

"_How much more clear can I make it?" he said grabbing her by the shoulders, "You idiot, I can't be your friend because I want more." He said staring deep into Isabelle's eyes._

_She looked up at him dumfounded and confused._

"_What more can we have Edward?" she asked slowly._

Hermione sighed. This lady was seriously stupid. Throughout the whole show, he'd been practically yelling 'I love you' and all she could think of him as, was a friend. Hermione shook her head at the two of them.

_Edward moved away from her and she looked up at him feeling disappointed at their loss of contact._

Hermione laughed. The girl liked him in return. Why couldn't she see that?

"_I'm sorry Isabella." Edward began with his back to her, "You're right. What more can we have?"_

_Isabella turned away clutching her heart at his words. Then looked thoughtfully confused as to why what he said had bothered her so much._

"_I should go." Edward said and began to walk out the door._

_Isabella turned, with an arm outstretched. About to ask him to stay but then she caught herself in time and lowered her raised hand. _

_Without another word between the two he was gone._

Hermione sat on the couch rolling her eyes. Who wrote this stuff. He could have just told her the damn truth and all of this would have been over. Or better yet, the girl should have realized her feelings for him and told him how she felt instead of making him do all the chasing.

It was the double standard, she supposed. The man is supposed to be all manly and confess to the one he loves risking heart break and still taking it like a bloke. But it wasn't his fault that the girl didn't understand her own attraction to the guy when he was giving it his all. She was the one who should chase after him and set things right.

Instead the drama would continue until he gave into her completely, risking everything and lowering his pride even more. It was all for the ratings (reviews lol) of course. And it even had Hermione hooked, so how could she complain about how ridiculous the situation was?

She turned her attention back to the TV and watched as Isabella sat on the couch defeated, trying to sort out her feelings.

"_What's wrong with me," she whispered aloud. _

_Then the door slammed open and she jumped up from the couch in shock._

"_Edward?" she asked surprised with his return. He closed the distance between them and held her hands in his._

"_Isabella, there's more. So much more that we could be." he said._

"_Edward…" she began softly, pulling her hands from him. "I just don't understand."_

"_Then I'll show you," he said before claiming her lips in a desperate kiss. Isabella was at first shocked, but then realization washed over her and she closed her eyes and deepened the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck._

_When finally the kiss was broken, Edward looked down at her out of breath._

"_Do you see now?" he began holding her close, "Isabella, I love you."_

_Isabella's eye's filled with tears._

"_Oh Edward, I love you too." she said and they kissed once more._

"_WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" a voice shouted, and the two lovers parted, facing the door._

"_Jacob," Isabella started, "It's not what you think."_

_Dramatic music played as they showed a stream of face caps before rolling the credits._

Hermione laughed, getting up from the couch. How silly to watch these things. So unrealistic. Who would want a life like that anyway. She turned off the TV having had enough of that for today.

She went into the kitchen and rinsed her bowl deciding, with a glance at the washer, that she'd wash her clothes from camp. Even though Harry had offered his clothing, she found the idea of wearing his things too intimate a thing for her to do.

Hermione visited the hallway closet and found a towel, then after getting undressed and using it to cover up, she loaded all her things into the washer and headed for the bathroom.

She ran a bath for herself, having not had time for a nice bath in a while. She would have used her wand to magic up some bubbles, when she suddenly remembered that she hadn't gotten it back from McGonagall. She sighed knowing the old woman was probably well aware that Hermione would have to go back to Hogwarts for her wand. Infact, McGonagall probably purposely hadn't given it back to her when Hermione resigned to ensure Hermione's return.

Hermione slid into the water, unable to be angry with McGonagall. After all, it was her own lack of responsibility that had led to this in the first place. She should never have let herself get out of hand that way. Quitting her job over something so stupid.

Hermione laughed, it was like something that would happen in that stupid soap she'd been watching Next thing you know, Draco would show up here, telling her that he left Rebecca and that he loved her.

She stopped laughing…

It wasn't so funny after all. Maybe she did wish her life was like that drama. She wanted Draco to come after her. But this was real life and he wouldn't be here.

Hermione relaxed into the water trying to think of other things. She wondered how things were going with Damien. If he'd managed to get over himself and befriend Danielle. She smiled at the thought. Would that have been Draco and herself, had they had a chance like this in school? Would they be together even now? Would he have met Rebecca? She could just imagine the scenarios that would take place if they had been together in school. Perhaps they would be Headboy and Headgirl like Tiffany and Nate…

She shook her head in frustration. He would never have liked her back then. Just like he couldn't like her now. Not to mention that Ron wouldn't let Malfoy within talking distance in school. She laughed, just like Tanner. But then, Tanner and Damien ended up becoming friends, along with Spencer who, now that she thought about it, would be their group's Blaise…

What was she thinking. The point was that it was impossible.

Not because of them, but because of herself. Even if Draco would have tried to talk to her during school, she would have _let_ Ron and Harry come between them easily, not wanting to lose their friendship. She wouldn't have even given Draco a chance.

* * *

Draco sat behind his desk, wishing that this period would hurry and end. He didn't know if he could survive any more of this. From around the room angry students watched his every move. Even with all the busy work he was giving everyone and the unfair deadlines he was asking them to meet, they just didn't mind wasting time they needed to get that assignment done, on glaring at him all class period.

He looked up at the clock, ticking away unbearably slow.

Draco sighed when innocent little Emon raised his hand and he had no choice but to break this deafening silence to address him.

"Yes?" he asked slowly and all the student looked up from their work.

"Why wont you just go get her?" Emon asked and the heaviest looks shot at Draco.

What the hell? Is that what this was about? They all wanted him to go after her, even if it meant leaving Hogwarts and his responsibilities behind? Even if it wasn't his fault and he had no idea why she'd left?

The longer he waited to answer, the more foul the collected moods in the room became. He cleared his throat and answered honestly, without thinking, and hoping that word would spread and he could walk down the halls without having to watch for curses at his back.

"I want to go but I have a job to do here." he answered and the faces all lightened up.

"Who cares," a girl said.

The class agreed, but they didn't seem to understand adulthood. What they don't tell you in the romance novels, is that the guy goes back to work the next day after missing that extremely important meeting, to chase a girl to a portkey before she was gone for good. Well, the guy got fired for neglecting his duties.

But the story always ends with the happy part. The reconciliation, confession and then a kiss of acceptance. In Draco's story, he'd chase her, reconcile, confess and then get a slap in the face when she turned him down saying that he was her best friend.

It was the double standard. He was the man, so he had to take the chance. Prove he loved her by losing all his dignity while she sits back and waits for love to come to her so she can finally lift the weight of denial off her shoulders. It wasn't fare, but it was true.

"I'm going to get her this weekend," he said with a sigh.

"That's not soon enough," one of them whined. Draco shrugged.

"That's just life, now get back to work," he said and the sound of quills scratching parchment filled the room for the last long portion of the double period.

"So that's what he said," a third year told her friend, who told her friend, who mentioned it to his girlfriend, who told her big brother, who told his best friend, who then told his whole class and eventually everyone in Hogwarts knew.

* * *

Hermione put her clothes in the dryer and sat on the couch in her towel waiting for her clothes to finish. She'd turned on the heater and the room was feeling really comfy. Hermione looked at the clock and with a sigh started to brush out her hair. It was four and Harry said he wouldn't be home until six. She was out of things to do. She didn't even feel like reading.

She was at that point where the excitement of a vacation was wearing off, which had happened a lot quicker than it usually did, and she wanted to go back to school. Maybe she'd make dinner. Actually that was a great idea. Something to say thank you to Harry and Blaise for not being upset by her presence.

Hermione yawned, sitting back on the couch. It was so warm, maybe she'd just rest her eyes a bit while her clothes dried. Then she'd start on dinner.

* * *

Blaise waved goodbye to Harry and made his way to the floo network with a letter in his hands feeling annoyed. What did Draco mean by waiting for the weeks end? What kind of a bloke in love does that? He had to know that McGonagall wouldn't be mad at him for skipping a bit of work to get Granger.

Maybe he ought to just go and drag him to her. Blaise knew that wouldn't work. Draco had one hell of a sense of obligation. Maybe he should ask McGonagall to let Draco have a few days off, vacation was around the corner anyway. But then, if McGonagall wanted Draco gone, she'd have made it happen by now.

He huffed in aggravation. He was an impatient person by nature and couldn't resist trying to make things move faster if possible. But it looked like he was going to have to just sit back and wait on this one.

He entered the floo network and headed home.

* * *

Classes were finally over and Draco was glad to see that the word had spread about his retrieving Granger soon. The students wanted their professor back by the end of the holidays and they weren't messing around. As the students exited they all gave him poker faced nods, like mob bosses ensuring that he knew what to do.

He thought about what Hermione could be doing right now. Probably stuck in a book he thought with a smile. Then a sudden realization hit him and hard. Blaise would be coming back from training around this time and he and Hermione would be in the house alone together.

Blaise was constantly writing to him about how annoyed he was for those hours before Harry got home at six to cook food and such. They were like a sick couple Draco thought. But now he had something to worry about.

Blaise was his mate and all, that was true, but if he so much as had an inkling of how naive or attractive Granger was, well lets just say that his and Blaise's relationship would definitely take a back seat to Blaise's affinity for women.

Ugh, and knowing Blaise he'd blame Draco for having not come to get her sooner. Telling him that he should have made a claim. Draco was angry just thinking about it. What were they doing right now? God Hermione was so stupid that if he invited her to his room for a pillow fight, she'd probably think him an innocent 'friend.'

Hadn't Potter thought of that? He knew Blaise almost as well as Draco did.

Draco calmed a bit. Of course Potter would have thought of that. There was no need to worry. Besides what were the chances that Blaise would see Granger looking attractive. Draco laughed.

Yeah, he found Granger attractive because of personality and besides that, yes she was extremely hot, but as long as she was fully clothed, you could hardly tell. It's not like she'd be prancing around Potter's house half naked or anything.

* * *

Blaise came through the fire place feeling exhausted. He was on his way to his room when he noticed the most peculiar thing and was stopped in his tracks.

"_Hello_…" he said quietly. "what do we have here?"

Staring at the couch he noticed that there was an outrageously sexy, half naked, woman with beautifully damp hair asleep wearing nothing but a towel. Now where had this lovely lady come from? He stepped closer to the couch wide eyed that this luscious thing with extraordinarily long legs, was indeed the same boring Granger he'd just met last night.

Impossible.

He pinched himself but her slightly parted full lips were still as sexy as they had been a second ago. It was just so wrong. So deliciously wrong. He couldn't hit on Harry's best friend in Harry's apartment. That was horrible. Almost as horrible as trying to bed the woman your best mate is in love with.

He really wanted to walk away from this situation and lock himself in his room until Harry came home but he looked down at her one more time and just couldn't do it. That would be like slapping the gods in the face. They'd gone out of their way and made her irresistible and who was he to defy the gods intentions?

That's right, it would be committing blasphemy to not come on to her. Besides Harry should have known this would happen with a friend this beautiful. He didn't even allow Ginny over lest Blaise some how find her enticing. He needn't worry about that one Blaise laughed. But could it be that he was unaware of how amazing Hermione looked.

Well that was his loss.

Blaise called out to her.

"Granger," he said and when she didn't wake, he put a soft hand on her shoulder and shook lightly. "Granger."

Her eye's fluttered open looking up at him. Then she realized her situation and blushed furiously.

"Oh is it six already?" she asked and Blaise smiled.

"No, I get home before Harry." he said with a laugh, "I guess he forgot to tell you."

"Oh," she said looking somewhat angry, then seeing him eye her she continued, "My clothes are all in the drier."

Blaise nodded his understanding and then put a hand out to help her up, "Come on, you can borrow something of mine for now."

Hermione didn't know what to do. She didn't want to say yes but this was so embarrassing she just wanted it to end. She put her hand in his and he took her to his room. He opened the closet and pulled out a button down.

"Here," he said tossing it to her and then he pulled out some shorts from a cubby in the closet. He handed them to her and before he could say a word, she ran from the room and he heard the bathroom door shut.

He smirked. Now that he thought about it, she was pretty cute. Draco should have come to get her sooner.

* * *

Draco sat at the dinner table unable to think about anything but what he knew Blaise was trying to attempt right now. It had dawned on him that Harry was too thick to realize the danger he'd put Granger into, because he too was unaware of just how attractive his bookish best friend was. He wouldn't think of her in that fashion.

He was going crazy thinking of Blaise laying a finger on her with no one there to stop him. He just hoped that Hermione could take care of herself. He sighed at the thought and began to worry more.

He couldn't take it any more. He got up from his seat and headed for McGonagall.

* * *

Hermione stood in the bathroom dieing of embarrassment. She would kill Harry when he got home. Now she was wearing Zabini's clothes. This was way worse than wearing her best friend's stuff, ten fold. The point was to not make things awkward.

This was a successful fail. As soon as her clothes were done she was going to change out of these and get back to Hogwarts. She needed to get her wand back anyway. Then she'd decide what to do from there, but for sure she needed to get back to her job whether she was ready to face Draco or not.

For now though, she was stuck here with Blaise. Not that she didn't trust him, but being discovered like that by anyone, would make her want to run and hide. She was again overreacting of course. It's not like Blaise was the kind of guy who'd try anything with her.

She sighed and opened the door to the bathroom bracing herself for humiliation. It never failed.

* * *

"What do you mean no?" Draco asked McGonagall incredulously.

"That's what I said Mr. Malfoy," she replied unfazed by his rudeness, "I can't afford to lose another professor at this time," she said sternly.

"At, what time?" Draco asked angrily, "It's four days before break, nothings going on. There's no war." he said and she faced him raising an eyebrow.

"My answer is final Professor," she said and Draco closed his mouth unable to argue with this stubborn old woman. He looked out over the hall and all eyes were on him, the faces beaming at his new found dedication to retrieving their history professor.

Draco returned to his seat defeated and the students booed until McGonagall sternly looked out at all of them and they went back to eating.

* * *

Blaise watched as Hermione fooled around in the kitchen.

"Making dinner?" he asked, and without facing him she nodded. "What are you making?" he asked coming up behind her and looking over her shoulder. Hermione froze at the contact then she laughed.

"You remind me of Ron," she said and Blaise was taken aback by her choice of words. He moved back offended and quickly smiled at her when she turned around.

"You should teach me to use this thing, Harry says that I may burn the place down," Blaise laughed and Hermione smiled up at him.

"Sure," she replied happily, "It's not all that hard."

Blaise frowned at her natural trust in him. It was a bit disappointing that she didn't even sense his intentions.

"Here," she said handing him a knife. "It's kind of like potions. Can you chop these up?" she asked handing him some onions.

"Sure" he said and set to work while she pulled out more ingredients and heated a pan.

When he finished what he was doing he pulled her over by the waist and in front of him.

"How's this?" he asked and though she was trapped between him and the counter she didn't think anything of his gesture.

"These look great." she said turning, looking up at him and smiling a friendly smile. It kind of irked him that she didn't realize what the close contact meant.

"Now's the tricky part." she said with a laugh and picked up the onions moving back to the lit pan on the stove.

She started to slowly push the onions into the oiled pan with other things already in it and they sizzled. Then she stopped and handed the cutting board to him.

"Go ahead and try, but go slow because the oil pops and might burn you." she said with that annoying smile on her face that was like a force field to his charms.

He took the board and did as was told. It was kind of fun and it only hurt for a second when the grease jumped.

"Okay," she started, handing him the things that she'd cut up. "Go ahead and do those too."

He slowly added the rest of the ingredients enjoying himself.

"What's next?" He asked after he was done with that. She moved to stand close beside him and with a spatula in hand she mixed the vegetables. Then she handed it to him.

"Do that for a bit okay." she said.

He took the spatula and stirred. When he wasn't doing it right, she placed her hand on his and moved his hand properly, "Like this," she said.

"Hermione?" he asked and she looked up at him. "Did you treat Draco this way?" he asked and she blushed.

"Yes," she said slowly, "Why?"

"No reason," he said and then suddenly felt really quit bad for his mate. Blaise could snog this girl senseless and she'd find some way to deny that it meant anything. Then continue to be uncomfortably close to him.

She leaned close to him again and then with a smile lowered the fire and put a lid on the pan.

"Now we let it sit for a bit," she said and she sat herself on the counter top.

Blaise watched her and thought that maybe he ought to try harder before giving up. He stood between her legs and watched as her face finally looked surprised. He put his hands on her hips and with the sexiest voice spoke.

"You looked quite stunning in that towel by the way, but perhaps even more so in my clothes," He said figuring that he was better off being straight forward with her or she'd miss it.

She looked at him confused for a moment, then began laughing.

"Thanks," she started and he wished she would have stopped there, "I know I look ridiculous in this stuff, no need to make fun of me." he couldn't believe it but then it got worse, "I'm glad that you and Harry are friends and I'm glad that you're being so nice to me even though I'm a bother." and when he thought his attempts couldn't be belittled any more then it already had been, she gave him a friendly tap on the arm, "I hope that we can become friends too."

Blaise backed away from her clutching what was left of his pride before she completely trampled it. How could Draco have put up with this? Oh gods, he needed to lie down and replenish his ego before she took what was left of his balls and turned it into a vagina.

She hopped down from the counter and turned off the stove.

"Looks like it's done." she said happily, stirring the pans contents with a giddy smile. "Did you enjoy your first stove experience?" she asked him and smiled.

"Yeah, I learned a lot." he answered and she looked ecstatic.

* * *

Hermione set the table and was glad that Blaise hadn't made things awkward. By the time Harry got home, she was back in her own clothing and had dinner ready.

"Wow Hermione." Harry said sitting at the table. "You didn't have to.'

"No, it was the least I could do," she said and then looked at Blaise, "Blaise helped me out with the stir fry," she mentioned and Harry paused.

"Is it safe?" he asked and Hermione laughed.

"He did a good job," she smiled and Blaise laughed.

After dinner Hermione hugged Harry and then Blaise and they both looked confused.

"I've decided to go back to Hogwarts tonight," she said and Harry smiled at her.

"That's great. Are you going to tell him how you feel?" Harry asked and Hermione froze at that.

"No," she said sheepishly, "McGonagall has my wand and I have to go back to get it, so I decided that a should just stay and do my job while I'm at it." she explained and Harry's face fell.

"Oh," he said and Blaise laughed.

"Harry's right," Blaise said and Hermione blushed, "You should just tell him and get it out of the way."

"But what about Rebecca?" she asked, "It wouldn't be right."

Blaise rolled his eyes.

"You want things to go back to normal between the two of you don't you?" he asked and she nodded, "Well then just tell him the truth and you'll get past and then everything will be fine."

Harry shot him an angry look and Blaise nudged him.

"I was just going to ignore it," Hermione pondered, "Do you think that telling him would really work?"

"Sure it will," Blaise said reassuringly. "You told him about that dream you had about him and it helped right?" he asked and her face turned red as she blushed.

"Maybe your right," she sighed and Blaise smiled.

"Besides, even if he doesn't feel the same, you should tell him and take the weight off of your own shoulders, don't you think?" he said and she thought that over.

"Well," she started, "I guess it's not hurting anyone for me to tell him what I'm thinking. And it wasn't fair how I just ran away without saying anything. I kind of feel like I owe him an explanation." Hermione said realized that it was true.

It was that double standard thing again, where she would expect an explanation from him if he did something like that to her, but as a woman she didn't have to explain herself if she didn't want to. Infact, there was nothing wrong with her telling him how she felt at all. She wanted to take the chance and whatever came of it, she was sure she'd feel better with herself for having told the truth.

Wasn't that what he admired about her? Doing what she believed in and not being afraid of embarrassing herself.

When the look of determination came over her face Blaise smirked and Harry smiled at him while shaking his head disapprovingly.

"You're right Blaise." she said confidently. "I should just tell him. I know that we'll still be friends after."

The two men looked at each other. Harry spoke.

"That's great Hermione. I'm sure it'll work out." He said with a laugh.

Hermione packed her things and thanked the both of them repeatedly before apparating out of the room.

Harry turned to Blaise.

"So how was your time alone with Hermione?" he asked with a smile and Blaise looked at him shocked then he smirked. He should have known that Harry suspected him from the beginning.

"A serious blow to the ego is what it was." he answered and Harry laughed.

"Figured it would be," He said, "I guess you owe me twenty galleons if I'm not mistaken."

Blaise looked at him confused, "Twenty? For what?"

"It was last month that you bet me that I couldn't find a girl resistant to your 'charms' I believe." Harry said and shrugged.

"I don't remember that, so it doesn't count," he said flippantly.

"All the same, it's payment enough to know that you got turned down by Hermione." he laughed and left Blaise fuming in the living room.

Blaise sat on the couch wondering how Hermione could be so thick. It wasn't his charms it was her.

"Good luck mate," Blaise whispered his regards to his best friend. If he managed to mess this up, then nothing could save them.

* * *

Hermione arrived in Hogsmead and was freezing. She looked at the castle up the hill. She wasn't ready just yet. She went into the Three Broom Sticks to warm up. It would be closing soon and would give her just enough time to settled herself or maybe work up some courage.

Hermione entered and sat at the bar when Madam Rosmerta smiled at her.

"How are you dear?" Rosmerta asked with a bright smile.

"All right, I suppose," Hermione said with a sigh. The bartender looked at her knowingly.

"Here," she said sliding a shot down the bar, "It'll help warm you up," she said and Hermione looked at it, a short debate taking place in her head, before she downed the drink. Hermione shut her eyes tight as the burn spread through her. This didn't taste like the fire whisky she'd had before.

"Thanks," Hermione said feeling suddenly warm and fuzzy, "What is this stuff?" she asked smelling the empty shot glass.

"A bit of something for the nerves drear," she said with a smile, "One more and you'll be set to deal with anything," she said and with expert movements that Hermione could barely follow, she mixed another one and slid it to Hermione.

Hermione looked down at the amber liquid feeling wary of it's contents but at the look on Rosmerta's face she felt confident that it would be okay. She braced for the burn and threw the shot back.

Hermione coughed and hacked and the bartender smiled.

"That ought to do it," she said going around the counter and helping Hermione up from the bar. "Closing time dear, I'll help you out."

Hermione nodded, unable to really focus on forming words.

"It's a bit stronger than the normal bit of liquor, but I bet you have a good night." she said walking Hermione to the door. "come on by and I'll make you another anytime you need it."

Hermione waved goodbye and started on her way up the castle feeling extraordinarily up beat. She was a bit dizzy but she was walking fine and her brain was working perfectly normal.

Well almost perfectly normal. Right now the thought of going to Draco's room and telling him about her feelings was seeming like a great idea, where as normally she was sure she'd be fighting it the whole way, or thinking about the fact that it was far too late at night to pay him a visit.

She laughed felling like it was silly to think that he'd care what time of night she showed up. She wanted to remember to be worried about what he would say, but she just couldn't bring herself down out of the strange cloud she was in.

She reached the gates to the castle in no time what with her chipper skipping pace. As soon as she stepped into the castle, her feet moved her toward him and she wanted them to stop. She wasn't ready for this, she thought and her mind wouldn't believe her. It kept up it's optimistic view and pushed her forward.

Hermione was going to kill Rosmerta. Well with the mind set she was in right now, all she could think of doing was giving hugs. And when she thought of Draco, she wanted to give a whole lot more…

* * *

Draco lay in his room trying to sleep. Blaise had better not lay a finger on her. He grunted unable to stop thinking of the possibilities. Turning over with a sigh he decided that tomorrow he would leave whether McGonagall liked it or not. She could fire him if she liked. He didn't need a job, he was rich.

Feeling contented with that, he turned over one more time, getting comfortable and drifting to sleep.

_Knock, knock, knock._

Who the hell could that be at this late hour? Draco thought, probably some student sneaking out to tell him what he was doing wrong.

**Read the new question and give me an opinion will you? ^_^**


	15. Confessions

**THANX to ebm56 for the encouragement.**

**Alright. First of I'm sorry for the long ass wait. I'm ashamed of myself. Truth be told, I left that last chapter so open ended that even I didn't know what was coming next…**

**Now, thanks for all the reviews! **

All the complements are **OUTRAGIOUS!** And I was happy to see all the **first time readers **who reviewed. I love you guys.

Glad that some of you caught the **Twilight reference**. And I'm super happy that you all liked the Blaise parts. I had a few quotes about the **balls to vagina part**. I didn't even know that it was funny. lol

**Thanks for answering about my mom. I'll let you know what she says. Lol**

**ANNND!!!! **

I'll go back to updating properly.

**

* * *

HAPPY B-DAY TO ME! **

I'm 21

I got...

The Lightning Thief set.

A Gryffindor emblem necklace.

A murarders map.

A learn Japanese computer program.

Really cute boots.

And a box set of the first season of Daria, the old MTV show

**My mom is taking me to my first club on sat.**

I've never drank and don't really want to but my mom is like, 'you have to go and at least dance' so there you have it. Hey I might even try a fruity cocktail or something lol.

**I'm just a home body… **

I'm getting the Barns & Nobles Nook e-reader from my husband! To ensure plenty more hours of reading time at home. **^_^**

**Anyway, this chapter is crap and if you have suggestions, flame away! But I had to write something didn't I? **

**To inspire me to write this chapter, my husband wrote most of the McGonagall scene, then I made some changes and added things. It really got the ball rolling so thank him. He didn't want me to put it in, but I thought it was really in depth. **

I had never thought of the trouble it would be to get Hogwarts back up and running after the war. So let me know what you think of it and I'll tell him.

**NEW QUESTION!**

What should my first alcoholic drink be? I'm scared of the strong stuff and I may not drink at all, but if anyone has any suggestions, I'll look it up and maybe give it a try.

* * *

Innerhouse Relations

Chapter 15

McGonagall sat in her office and wondered when Hermione would be returning. Two days had been enough to ensure bonds between houses and any longer now, would cause animosities to run to high.

As she mulled it all over in her head, she recalled earlier that morning when a snowy white owl came to the window carrying a letter. She recognized it as Harry's new owl, doubly named for his fallen old friend.

"Thank you Dobby," she said and the owl went on it's way back to Harry Potter's house.

She opened the note and it was marked for the night before.

_Hermione is staying with Blaise and I tonight. I'll send her back as soon as I can._

Minerva asked Rosmerta to be on the look out for Hermione in Hogsmead today, but had yet to receive word of a Granger sighting.

Minerva wasn't worried. If not tonight, than Granger would be back in the morning, after all she wasn't going to go far without a wand. McGonagall had kept it to ensure her return, and it was a good thing too.

She needed Draco and Hermione to reconcile at Hogwarts where the students could see it. She could sense that if Hermione didn't return quickly, then Draco would go after her. Normally she wouldn't mind, but in this case she felt it crucial that they make amends before the student body.

The head mistress sighed. She was worn out and should be in bed at the moment. Instead she was up later than usual, sorting through some concerned letters from parents who feared that sending their children someplace other than the castle would be dangerous in some way. She would be sending them a reply explaining to them why a camp away from magic would be important in building character and learning life lessons, but she'd get to that in the morning because, for now, she was stressed and needed a bit of time to reflect on her time as Headmistress.

After all of the dust had settled after Lord Voldemort's fall, there was still a school left to run and the professors were unanimous in their decision to appoint her as the new Headmistress for, of course, it would take a lot of work to set things right and Minerva would be the only one of them all capable of handling the task.

During her first years, she had to repair trust with the parents, and to do that she first had to repair the castle. Hogwarts had to be a symbol of safety and a war torn castle wouldn't be very inviting. Not only did she have to fix things at home but more than half the time she had to be in London to get closer to the Ministry of Magic because that's where the wizarding community was looking to for help. The sooner the Ministry endorsed the safety of the school, the easier it would be to get kids onto the Hogwarts express.

The halls of Hogwarts were emptier than they had been since it's founding over 1000 years before and slowly but surely, McGonagall had managed to bring the numbers up to what they had been. It was hard work and it made her feel young again, reminded her of her days in school; the rush of making an important deadline and the lack of sleep because she needed to go over a stack of parchment.

Alas, once the school was in good form again she found herself felling like she could do more. She needed a new challenge, one even greater than the one before it. That's when she thought of it. Something like bringing peace to warring nations, but she wasn't in charge of a country. She was, in fact, in charge of a school, and nothing could be more of a necessity for the future of Hogwarts, she decided, than uniting students who've been brooding since medieval times.

Before she did anything, she ran her idea past her comrades Albus and Severus, who simply said that even though they had an extremely hard time defeating the dark wizard Voldemort, they wouldn't want to be in her shoes for the task she was setting for herself. At least that's what it sounded like whilst the other Headmasters in the portraits above them were rambling and arguing amongst each other, and Headmistress McGonagall smirked to herself and went straight to work. That night had been a turning point.

Minerva was pulled from her revelry as a tapping sounded at the window. She looked up and saw that a paper air plane was trying to get in.

She opened the window with a smile, and read the note.

_Professor Granger has returned. I gave her a couple of drinks and sent her on her way. Don't expect her 'til morning though. She'll be visiting another professor right now._

_-Rosmerta_

The Headmistress shot a satisfied look out the window before closing it and heading off to bed.

* * *

Nate lay awake in his bed, hating both of his favorite teachers and their unwatchable relationship. If you could call it a relationship. Speaking of relationships, their stupid drama, had ruined his with Davis.

It wasn't until two days ago that he realized how much he enjoyed fighting with her over the bathroom or the one writing desk in the common room. Or about homework that they ended up doing together, which usually stemmed from an argument about how they didn't need each other's input. He missed pissing her off by taking long showers at random times at night while she was sleeping.

She hadn't spoken to him in two long days. The worst part about it was that, she didn't seem to mind ignoring him. She didn't care about all the mundane things he missed about their relationship. After being stuck in that closet with each other, he had at least thought that they'd taken the leap from foes to associates. In fact, it had seemed like she may have even liked him.

What was he thinking? One night in a closet with somebody never ensures that complete enemies could up and become friends, let alone what he was wanting it to be, he realized. Davis had a large choice of guys she could be involved with and he was pretty sure that he was at the bottom of the list, if he was on it at all.

And what did he care anyway. She was to uppity, and rude. She was snide and unladylike, a complete tomboy. She belittled him and got on his nerves every moment they spent together.

Only, she was also really smart and talented. Truthful and hard working. She had plenty of redeemable qualities, including the fact that she was a damn hot, quidditch playing, sex pot. The more he thought about her, the more attractive she became.

He grunted. So what? No matter how much he liked her, he and she were worlds apart and in far different leagues. Even if he told her how he felt, she would probably laugh in his face and tell him that there was no way in hell.

He turned over onto his back looking up at the red and gold striped top of his for poster bed. If he knew that someday house restrictions wouldn't matter, maybe he would have treated her better so he could stand a chance.

"Jensen," Tiffany whispered at his door. He looked up to see her peeking in. "you still up?" she asked. He sat up feeling a little shocked. Not only because it was one of those 'speak of the devil' things, but because she was speaking to him in general.

"What's up?" he asked, laying back down trying to pretend that he didn't care or notice that this was the first time she'd set foot in his room. She walked in, closing the door behind her, and sat on his bed.

"It dawned on me that you're never going to get around to saying it, so I'll go first." she said with an exasperated sigh.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, turning over to face her.

"Don't be stupid Jensen," she said.

"If you're askin' me to say sorry, then you may as well leave now," he commented and she glared at him.

"God, your an idiot," she started and then shoved him over and lied down on her back beside him. He was shocked, but then he realized he shouldn't be. She was always doing awkward things like this and being casual about it.

"Well then?" he asked, wanting her to get out of his room. Not because he didn't like it, on the contrary, he liked it too much.

"Don't get all moody with me," she started, "here I am, up this late at night because of you. And then I think, 'he's probably up too.' So I come in here to do what I know we're both thinking of but you don't have the balls to do." she said annoyed.

Nate sat there trying to understand. He was sure that if she was up thinking of him, it wasn't in the same way he'd been thinking of her.

"What are you talking about Davis?" he asked.

"I'm talking about how you don't have the balls to tell me that you like me, so here I am, in your bed, being a reckless teenager, telling you that I like you too Jensen." she said and he sat up in shock.

"You what?" he asked in disbelief.

"Don't make me say it again," she said and it was probably the first but hopefully not the last time, that he saw Tiffany Davis blush. He may be the only one in the school to witness this. When he continued to stare she took a pillow and shoved it over his face. "this is the part where you act like a man and do something," she said annoyed.

Nate pulled the pillow from his face and smirked. "If you say things like that, then we're going to end up doing something stupid," he laughed and watched as her face blushed again at the use of her words from the closet incident.

"I shouldn't have bothered if you're just gunna be immature," she said getting up from the bed.

Nate pulled her back down, "Do you want us to do something stupid?" he asked. She smirked.

"Are you offering?" she said.

"Depends on if you're blue balling me or not," he answered honestly with a chuckle.

"You'll have to find out," she shrugged and he kissed her, laying her back on the bed. She pushed him off and straddled his lap. "don't like bottom," she said and kissed him again one more time before getting up. "And I suppose I _am_ blue balling tonight. Night Nathan." she laughed before leaving his room.

Nate sat on his bed in shock before laying back and smiling. He supposed blue balls were better than the nut shot.

Now, if only his professors could make up. If just one of them worked up the nerve to say something to the other then it would be just as simple as it had been for Dav-, _Tiffany_ and himself just now. Tiffany…That would take some getting used to.

If the Professors got together, his final year at Hogwarts would be perfect and peaceful now.

* * *

Hermione's heart sped up as the door to Draco's room opened. He looked angry and then at the sight of her, his face became shock.

"Granger?" he asked surprised and she couldn't help but smile. No, she _really_ couldn't help it. She stepped past him into the room, dropping her bag by the door with a cheery skip in her step and he moved out of the way looking confused.

Hermione wanted to stop all the thoughts that were suddenly coming to mind about telling him everything she'd been thinking for the past week. Her mind was throwing fear and apprehension into the wasteland in the back her head, where recklessness usually resided, but was escaping it's prison. Pointing and laughing at reason as it went. Hermione flopped on the couch and lied down and laughed. Somehow her head found all of this hysterical.

"Glad that I'm back?" she asked looking up at him as he closed the door and carefully approached as though she were a polyjuiced intruder, in a Granger guise. Hermione laughed watching him. She loved seeing him on edge like this, but really, what was she doing?

"Are you okay…" he asked cautiously. Hermione reached up and pulled him to sit on the edge of the couch.

"Brilliant," she smiled, and hated how cocky she knew she probably looked and sounded. What had Rosmerta given her? She went through her symptoms, trying to pinpoint a potion that she may be being influenced by. One of the major symptoms was the fact that her mind wouldn't focus on anything but her unbelievable desire to do what she was most afraid of at the moment, while blocking out any and all emotion or thought process that may get in the way of that task. Because of that one very clear symptom, Hermione was unable to think of any others.

She looked at Draco eyeing her skeptically.

"I'm sorry," she began still smiling at him. Her confidence was outrageous, and before she knew it she was spilling her guts. Not in her usual pathetic manner either, but in the tone of voice of a woman with no shame or fear of rejection, which she was neither of. "Draco I came to tell you that I have feelings for you," her mind ignored the pain in her chest and the look of outrage he was giving her, "and that I know there can be nothing between us because of Rebecca." He frowned and was about to say something but Hermione held up a hand.

"I understand that I may be out of line to even tell you such a thing, knowing that it's unfair to make things awkward for you, but I just want to get past this." Hermione laughed even though she was dying on the inside, "Well that and the fact that Rosmerta spiked my drink with something that is making me not care about what I'm saying at the moment. No doubt I'll be hating myself in the morning though, you know?" she shrugged, "either way, what's said is said. Apparently though, I have more to say because I won't stop talking. God, I'm about to tell you all my secrets so pay close attention okay?" she smiled at him and he nodded warily.

"So, I don't know what we have but I do know that I don't want to just be friends. I'm willing to accept the fact that that's all we can be and that what we did at the camp didn't mean anything, but I wanted to get all of this out. I want to be able to look at you without wanting you to touch me," she sighed, wanting to hang herself but instead laughed.

"I can't believe this is coming out of my mouth. I mean, I'm _really_ sorry to come to you like this. You can see that I didn't really have a choice. I mean this damn potion or whatever she gave, practically dragged me here," she paused, "I'm so mad right now," she chuckled, hating that she could be grinning at a time like this.

"I know I don't look it, but I'm seriously pissed." She ran a hand through her hair as her mind focused again, not letting her stall, "Anyway, I ran off because I found the letter you wrote to Rebecca and I just couldn't face you after realizing my feelings. I know it was stupid and all, but that's just me," she smirked and then, in an aside, she grunted, "After all I just got had by a sly bartender." She looked at him then and smiled at his gaped mouth expression. She really did like the look on his face but, she didn't want to smile, she wanted to get out of here so she could hurry up and get this crap out of her system and spend the rest of the night crying in her room.

"I think," she began, "that my mouth is slowing down, so I'll just excuse myself now," she said, pulling herself into a sitting position. "I hope everything goes back to normal and that this doesn't mess anything up with Rebecca." She smiled standing from the seat.

He watched her get all the way to the threshold, pick up her bag and open the door.

"Well, good night Draco," she waved and it wasn't until the smirk pulled at her lips, did he get up, close the gap and pull her back into the room, closing the door. He dragged her to his room and closed that door before tossing her on the bed and pulling his shirt over his head.

"What are you doing?" she asked shocked and with a giggle. "Didn't you hear anything I just said? I understand that we have to stay friends and that-"

Draco pushed her down on the bed and kissed her. He couldn't even find the words to say. There really were none. At this point he was just too exhausted with her stupidity to try to explain anything to her and have it blow up in his face again.

Not only that, but at the moment all he could honestly think about was how sexy she was, smirking and laughing while telling him that she wanted him. No, words wouldn't work right now.

She moaned beneath him and he couldn't have been more vindicated.

"Draco wait," she breathed as he parted from her briefly to pull off her jacket. He quickly placed his lips on hers again, but it seemed that she wasn't going to let him do things the way he wanted. She pushed at him and he held her down. He pulled away from her, both breathing hard.

"Draco-" she started, but he wasn't having it.

"Just shut up Granger," he said positioning himself between her legs so that she could understand his needs. It wasn't working.

"But-" "she said more breathy. He grunted in annoyance and kissed her again. If they talked now, she'd find a way out of his grasp and he just knew it. Not this time. He released her hands letting her try to push him away while he focused on unclothing her. He pulled her shirt up and pushed her bra out of the way. He sucked one of her breasts and she squirmed under him.

"Draco, wait I don't understand," she said and with the potion still in effect she was lighthearted and smiling down at him when he looked up. He knew it wasn't how she felt exactly, but he was sure it wasn't far off the mark either.

He smirked and let his hands undo her pants. When he tried to get them down she chuckled and held onto her waistband for dear life.

"Stop, stop," she laughed like she was being tickled and he couldn't help but love it. He knew she was serious of course, but it didn't change the entertainment level one bit.

"You don't sound like you want me to stop," he said smirking at her as she tried to calm her laughter.

"Damn it!" she said trying to catch her breath through fits of giggles, "you know I'm serious," she said biting her lip to keep from smiling. "It's the potion."

She was obviously determined to ruin the moment and have a right talk about this situation. Draco enjoyed her potion influenced laughter one more time with a few kisses to her hip bone before he sighed and sat up.

He smirked at her as she tried to straighten herself without looking so happy. When finally she had herself in order, she turned to him, still beaming.

"Well?" she asked and from the tone of her voice he could tell the potion was, sadly, wearing off.

He sat back against the head bored and adjusted himself, not missing the look of pure lust she shot him. She shook her head and looked away, as he smirked.

"Come on then," she said sitting at the far end of his bed. She picked up his shirt from the floor and tossed it to him, "Out with it." Her voice still sounded easy going and he was glad.

He couldn't imagine how she would take what he was about to explain to her. At least now, no matter how she was feeling, she'd be smiling at him. He put his shirt back on.

"There is no Rebecca," he said and laughed as she bit her lip to keep from smiling, "or more accurately, you are Rebecca."

Hermione smirked, but he couldn't tell what was really going on in her head. She was usually so transparent. He kind of wished she wasn't under the influence right now.

"Explain," she whispered trying to stop her mouth from stretching. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It was always you. I made her up as Rebecca later, because you didn't show an interest, but you wanted a name," he said with a shrug and Hermione just sat there for a long moment staring out at nothing then smirked, pulling her bangs back from her face.

"Tanner and Damien were right," she laughed shaking her head in disbelief. She was actually really angry about him using those silly grade school antics and wished she could glare at him. She made a mental note to give him the hardest glare she could, once this potion wore off.

"What?" Draco asked and she took a deep breath.

"Nothing... Continue," she said waving a hand. Then she smiled, "Why would you make up a girl if you were trying to get with me?" she asked with a frown.

"I had too, you stuck me with the 'friend' title," He answered and was actually somewhat glad that the potion was wearing off and he could see some confusion on her face.

"That's stupid," she laughed and it may have been the potion, but Draco was pretty sure that it sounded a little condescending. He glared at her.

"Well if you hadn't have been so dense then I wouldn't have had to resort to something so 'stupid' now would I?" he asked annoyed. He looked at her and she just sat there clutching her chest and panting. He sat up when tears started to roll down her face, "Are you okay Granger?"

Hermione's heart was aching. Not because of the conversation. No in fact she was glad to find out that there was no Rebecca and she was sure that it was her own emotions on that one. Her heart was beating abnormally fast because of the potion. All of her suppressed emotions were painful. She could tell that the potion was wearing off as her mind unclouded but it felt like the pressure of her earlier fears and apprehensions were coming back with a vengeance.

She wasn't even able to concentrate on the anger she should be feeling at his comment because a rush of the past 20 minutes was bombarding her. Her longing, stupidity, sadness, embarrassment, jealousy, lust, confusion, all of it came crashing down on her at once.

She couldn't stop hyperventilating. She stood from the bed trying think of a way to slow her heart. She was going to die for sure. She reached in her pocket for her wand and remembered that she didn't have one, not that if she did, she could think of a spell to help her breath at the moment. Her head was too light and her body too heavy. She fell to floor and felt Draco pick her up and lay her on the bed. He was calling out to her, she knew, but she couldn't speak.

Through her panic she remembered who had given her that drink and calmed down a bit, realizing that this was probably just the last effect of the potion, and that she wasn't going to die, it was all just logic.

A potion to suppress emotions to get you through a rough time with an aloof, level head was sure to come with consequence when it wore off. She relaxed her body, gritting her teeth against the pain, trying to focus on calming her heart.

Draco sat on his knees beside the bed and watched as Hermione's breathing calmed. Her sudden panic attack had almost sent him into a frenzy. Her breathing stopped and her eyes scanned the room wide eyed before she let out a sigh and her eyes rolled shut.

For a moment Draco thought she was dead, but then the rise and fall of her chest, informed him that she was only passed out. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before resting his forehead on the bed. Now that his head was clear he realized that it was just the potion and that she would be fine.

He was thinking that it would be a right mess to have finally conveyed his feelings to have her keel over now. He smirked. It wasn't funny, but knowing that she was okay, and that she liked him, made him chuckle with relief.

Perhaps she was right, and he had been being stupid. But everything worked out. He may have taken a stupid rout, but he'd reached his destination.

He stood up, looked down at her in his bed _again_ and let out an exasperated sigh. Now all they had left to do was consummate their relationship and he'd be perfect. He put a blanket over her, deciding to leave that part for later and headed for the living room. No point trying to pretend he'd get any sleep in his own bed tonight, and besides he had classes in the morning.

**

* * *

I don't know if the potion made sense, so if you didn't get it then let me know cuz I have an actual explanation for it.**

If you're **not happy** with this and you're thinking **"What the fuck, I waited for this?" **than leave me a **review** about it.

If you **do like it**, leave me a **review** about it.


	16. Taking The Next Step

**SHOUT OUTS!**

**Bite Me Masochistic Lion**

I'm holding you to it. You own me one crispy dollar! LOL

**Silent Readers**

Thank you for reviewing, although you wont read this authors note and see the thank you. Lol.

**xXblackheartzXx**

Thanks for my first flame and I am sooooooo sorry that I couldn't get this up in time. My best friend drove in from Colorado, so I didn't get much time. Plzzz forgive me.

**ebm56**

I know, sorry. V_V

**Moonstone16**

Glad you are no longer a silent reader. And I hope it dose keep getting better and better. don't go silent again, and let me know k?

**Kat.**

Thanks for your review. And you got everything I was going for. No dark brooding Hermione Draco here. Nothing but light hearted, believable, and stupid fun here!

**Kayko15**

It was totally a filler chapter and thanks for being honest. I'm actually glad someone said it. Hope this makes it up to you.

**Jade2099**

Yeah, I want to smack them sometimes too and I wrote it, lol.

**Everyone!**

Thanks for the happy b-day's and the drink suggestions. My mom and I are pushing the date back for this weekend so I still have plenty of time to decide. I looked up the drinks and I think I'm going to go with the fruity bits.

**

* * *

New Question!**

Do you want the sequel to take place as the winter vacation?

And what do you want to happen next? I really love when you guy's suggest things. And I was hoping that in the next chapter or the next story, it would be fun to have a sort of interactive fanfiction where you get to help with what comes next.

Its all in fun. If you like the idea than let me know.

* * *

Innerhouse Relations

Chapter 16

Draco woke up the next morning with a crick in his neck. He stretched and got up from the couch in annoyance. He may be in love with Hermione, but really, he was usually pretty serious about his beauty sleep and she seemed to love coming between that.

He sighed as an ache in his back made it's presence known. He tried to ignore it and started his daily routine. He went into his room to get his things in order, looked down at Hermione tangled in his bed cover and smiled. He couldn't possibly be angry today, he remembered. After all, last night his chase had officially come to an end.

Not to say that anything was official yet, but it was as good as done. Hopefully tomorrow he and she would be waking up in his bed together. He wouldn't miss a few hours of sleep if it was spent getting to explore her. That would be hours well spent.

He laughed as she grunted and turned over in her sleep. He hoped that she would stay in his room and sleep things out until noon. That way he could bring her some lunch and maybe talk her into a quick shag.

A quick shag?

Suddenly he realized that he was talking about goody Granger. Moral driven Hermione Granger. She would never have sex with him before they've officially become an item, let alone any quick shagging during a lunch break.

He was going to have to put in more work if he was going to get past third base with her. The kind of work that required patience. And the kind of patience that he had already used up on just getting her to realize her own feelings for him.

No, it was too much to think that he'd have to go through more of this round about game playing to get into his own girlfriend's pants. That may be a bit crude of him, but honestly, who could blame him? (surely none of you.) If anyone knew his story they would sympathize wouldn't they? They'd understand his unbearable need to claim her, right? Well of course… no one would want him to suffer for much longer.

This story needed to come to an end some time and he'd be damned if it wasn't this week. Was it wrong to pressure her? He looked down at her sleeping form, her shirt lifted, her lips parted and her hair, a hot tangled mess around her tan skinned face. He wanted her now. It may be wrong, especially after he'd decided at camp, that he wanted things to be completely mutual. But he couldn't wait much longer.

He hadn't had sex in what seemed like forever, now that he started to do the mental math. It hadn't bothered him all that much. He wasn't sex crazed or anything. Not until recently spending so much time with her around. Always being so damn sexy without knowing it.

He frowned at her on his bed looking like a mess, sleeping with her mouth open, slightly snoring and what not.

It really wasn't sexy at all, but if we switch to Draco vision for a moment…

The morning light glinted off her face and her long lashes lightly caressed her always flushed cheeks. Her slightly parted rose colored lips begged for a kiss. Her hair looked so soft and silky curling around her face in a sleepy halo of honey brown tresses. She was a goddess.

Yes, it was true that love changes your perspective and as Hermione lay there, a bit of drool ready to make the great escape, all Draco could see was the most shaggable woman in the world right now.

He shouldn't have let her get away last night. If he'd kept going then she would have fallen in line and he'd have bedded her. If he'd have gone just a bit further, he'd have had Granger asking 'what morals?' why did he stop?

Oh, that's right, because he respected her. And too much at that. It had been four painful months since he'd been with a woman and now he was having withdrawal. If he knew that he was going to fall for Granger he'd have at least got in as much sex that month before Hogwarts that he could.

What was wrong with him? Falling for the one girl that probably had the opposite of his appetite for sex. Draco could just kill himself now thinking of the next few months of painful waiting he'd be doing. And if he thought it was hard to keep his hands off of her before, what would it be like, how much suffering would he endure, now that they were going to be around each other intimately.

He could see it now.

Sitting on the couch talking and laughing. They'd touch and kiss and just when things would heat up she'd stop him. He winced at the thought. He had to do something about this. He wasn't one to pressure a girl into anything, but with Granger he was pretty sure that he'd have no choice if he was planning on getting any before the end of the year. And he _would_ get it before the end of the year.

Alright, he sounded like his old self. His old, old self. Nothing was unattainable by a Malfoy. Or at least that's what his father always fed his over inflated ego. His father may have been wrong about Malfoy's getting what they want but over the years Draco had learned what his father missed. It was a strong will that got you what you wanted, no matter the last name. His father had given him an unbreakable will power. Whether it be from all that his father earned or all that he lost from thinking that a last name was all you needed, Lucius had taught him something great.

Draco would have what he wanted as long as he worked for it. And he had an uncanny work ethic.

He unleashed his trademark smirk, leaned down and kissed Hermione's lips lightly before heading to the shower to get ready for classes. When he was on his way out the door he noticed Hermione's bag was still on the floor. He picked it up and before breakfast, he dropped her things in her room.

* * *

Hermione woke up with a splitting headache. She looked at the bed she was in, grunted and turned over. She guessed it was at least a good thing that she remembered the events of last night, she thought, pushing the cover off.

When she tried to sit up her head felt like it would explode. Only she could end up being dumb enough to have something like this happen to her. As cautious as she was, the great Hermione Granger, brilliance and all had drank something laced without thinking twice. Well how could she suspect Rosmerta of treachery? And then through her splitting head ache, she knew it wasn't Rosmerta's treachery alone at work here.

* * *

McGonagall sat at the staff table watching as Draco excitedly filled his plate with food. He was bursting at the seems with joy. Well, not really, but his usually stoic disposition was a lot more chipper than usual. She needn't guess why of course and knew that Miss Granger would be coming to her soon for her wand.

McGonagall smiled. Perhaps this whole bit of nonsense may indeed have a fairytale ending.

* * *

Hermione tried to get up with no success. Her whole body ached. Was this anyway for grown women to treat her? Those sneaky old…

She sighed and fell back on the bed. It was no use. Her body was too heavy to bother and her head really didn't like the extra strain of trying. She pulled the blanket back up and decided that she would just wait for Draco to get back and give her some potion. She smiled.

That's right, she and Draco were…wait, what were they?

Well he liked her and she liked him, so did that mean that they were dating? Or was she supposed to wait for a formal declaration of the situation from him? After all, it hadn't really been established, only insinuated.

Well, even if they hadn't made it official with proper words, she was sure that it wouldn't be long. Perhaps when he came back from his classes today. Or maybe she was supposed to get up and go to him? She didn't think he'd mind if she was still here when he got back but she wasn't sure.

At the moment, all the thinking was going to have to wait because her brain was getting mad at her for using it in it's current condition. It wasn't as if she could even get up if she wanted to. He'd understand if she explained, she hoped. Maybe he'd even join her.

Hermione smiled wishing she could have woken up beside him like she had only once before. Now that she really thought about it, she'd liked him far longer than she realized.

She shut her eyes and drifted back to sleep, deciding that she wanted to make up for all that lost time with him.

* * *

Damien watched his professor tapping his finger on his desk in an annoying repetitive motion. Professor Malfoy hadn't stopped watching the clock since he'd set them to work on a paper and seated himself behind his desk.

Damien could only assume that Professor Granger was back and that Professor Malfoy was in a hurry to see her again.

Damien smirked. He too was impatient for class to come to an end. He and Danielle had been having quidditch practices together during lunches and sometimes dinners. Every practice had gotten more and more intimate and he was pretty sure that today his patience with her would pay off. Today he'd make his move.

"Hey calm down mate," Spencer said with a smile and Damien gave him a questioning look. "the foot tapping is killing me, and the clock isn't going to move faster no matter how hard you glare at it." Spencer laughed and Damien's face went red.

Had he really been doing that? Spencer continued while holding in laughter.

"Don't worry Scott, she's not going anywhere." he said and Damien glared at him.

"Shut it Nix," he said and then focused on the parchments in front of him.

But Nix was right. She wasn't going anywhere.

* * *

Hermione woke up when Draco sat on the bed. She tried to contain her smile as he set some food on the bedside table.

"What time is it?" she asked groggily and winced at the pain still throbbing in her head.

Draco smiled and then pulled open the cabinet of the side table. He took out a vial and handed it to her.

"It's around noon," he said and she looked at the vial with a curious expression. He laughed, "Don't worry, it's what you had last time," he said and she blushed.

"Well, apparently I have to be more careful about who I accept drinks from." She said looking annoyed, she uncorked the small bottle and drank its contents. After she got over the nasty taste she looked at him questioningly, "So you have a whole stock of this," she smiled at his smirking face.

"Don't want to date an alcoholic?" he asked jokingly, his aloof manner taking a strain and the moment became something epic. Like this one question would decide the fate of the universe. Well, okay not the universe, but still it was monumental.

Hermione sat there. This was it. This was the official declaration. What should she say? It didn't seem like just answering his question would be enough. He stared at her with a strange look on his face. Of course it was Draco so the look wasn't as distinct as it would be on a normal person, but she decided to label the look as anticipation.

She cleared her throat and bit her lip. For some reason the fact that he was waiting on her made the words get stuck in her throat. She felt like she needed to say something amazing to express how much she wanted to be with him.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Are we going to do this again?" he asked and she looked at him confused, "I'm asking you to date me Granger. Is it that hard to give me an answer even though last night was answer enough?" he said annoyed and she went on the defensive.

"I know that you jerk. I was just thinking of a proper way to say things." she shot.

"There is no proper way. Either you do or you don't want to be with me. And you do, so say it." he said rudely, then smiled. "but if you must, then go on, give a proper answer then."

Hermione blushed. "Yes." she said annoyed.

"Yes what?" he asked, "That wasn't very clear right?" he smirked and Hermione glared at him. "We don't want anymore misunderstandings do we?" he asked.

Hermione took a deep breath and then rolled her eyes, "Yes Draco Malfoy, I would be honored if you would have me as your…" she shrugged, "I don't know, girlfriend." she said and he laughed.

"Glad to hear it," he said and she couldn't help but smile. "Now when do we get to the sex?" he asked with a smirk and Hermione looked flabbergasted.

Draco was doing that 'I'm half joking half serious' thing. Judging from her expression it was a bit too early.

"I'm just kidding," he laughed and watched her laugh with relief. This was going to be a mission. Well he had better get started. The road would be long and treacherous but he'd traverse it to the end.

He leaned in for a small peck and tested the waters. When she didn't back away he went in for a longer kiss but when he went to deepen the kiss she pushed him back lightly. She smiled at him sheepishly.

"I haven't brushed my teeth," she said and he smiled at her. That was so her to think of something like that.

"You can use my bathroom to freshen up if you'd like," he said and she thought that over for a moment. Now that her headache was gone she'd love a shower but her body was still sore from that potions effects and she'd hate to climb the stairs to get to her room. Not only that, but her heart raced at the idea of using his facilities.

"If it's okay," she said and he nodded. Little did she know that it was more than okay. She moved her sore body up from the bed and took a bite of the sandwich he'd brought her and headed to the bathroom.

"Oh wait," he said and she stopped in the doorway. He stood from the bed and pulled out his wand, then conjured a toothbrush and handed it to her. "Then we can continue," he said and Hermione blushed taking the toothbrush and closing the door.

Draco smirked. Little by little, he'd have his Granger.

* * *

"You ride like a maniac Scott," Danielle laughed.

"No Danielle, you ride like an old witch," he smirked. They both landed in the stands and Danielle shot him a glare,

"Not all of us can afford the fastest brooms on the market," she sighed. He smirked, she was always bringing up how spoiled he was. He didn't mind. In fact, before her constant reminders, he hadn't really appreciated what his father had given him through the years.

"If you're jealous, I suppose I could give you a ride on my very expensive broom," he said in his always cocky manner and watched as her face lit up at the thought. He smiled and she wiped the look of joy off her face.

"I'd like to ride it if you're offering," she said trying to stay as proud as she could. He got up and sat on his broom hovering over the bleachers.

"Come on then," he said, and she looked at him like he was crazy.

"Ride _with_ you?" she asked skeptically and he nodded seriously.

"You think I'm going to let you alone on my baby when you can hardly handle your ruddy old broom with it's limited speed. Not to mention your handling…" he said then held out his hand to her, "so take it or leave it."

She thought that over and although she was obviously offended that he was acting like a rich spoiled muggle kid with a brand new car, she couldn't resist a ride on such an awesome broom. She took his hand and he helped her onto the broom sitting in front of him and he smirked.

"I get full control though," she said.

"She's all yours," he laughed putting his hands on her waist. She jumped a bit but didn't say anything and then she took off at full speed and he held on for dear life. She laughed.

"It's so fast," she yelled over the wind excitedly.

"Yeah, that's what I paid for," he said sarcastically. She slowed to a stop and laughed.

"You should get me one," she joked and him being the rich bastard he was, contemplated it, not knowing that it was a joke request. "Um, by the way," she started after calming her laughter. When she looked serious and didn't continue he started to worry.

"What?" he asked hiding his apprehension.

"Well," she turned her head away, "Tanner wanted me to ask if you wanted to spend winter vacation at his house with him Spencer and I?" she asked and blushed.

Damien sat there stunned. Visibly shocked.

"Me?" he asked and she rolled her eyes.

"No, the other guy I'm on a broom with." she answered.

"Why?" he asked and she looked embarrassed.

"Well, we noticed that you always stay at school for the holidays, and we were talking about it when Tanner said that he ought to invite both you and Spencer, now that we were all friends." she said and he couldn't believe it. Maybe becoming Flores's friend hadn't been a bad idea at all. But then he noticed something strange.

"Since when do you call Nix, Spencer?" he asked. He wasn't pissed, just curious and maybe a bit jealous. But if he was, he would know it. Danielle laughed.

"You know what, I don't know. It kind of just happened." she shrugged, "I guess it's because Tanner calls him that." she said thoughtfully. Damien watched her matter a fact attitude and was annoyed. She didn't seem to think anything of it. Like it wasn't a big deal.

But to him, it was for some reason.

"Anyway," she continued, "Tanner already told his parents that you were coming and you know that Spencer's going to have a fit if you don't, so don't bother signing up your name for the list this year okay?" she said with a finality and he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"What makes you think I want to go to Flores's place?" he asked annoyed.

"Like you have anything better to do?" she countered and he really didn't have an answer for that. It was true. He spent the holidays at the castle to minimize family gatherings at his place. It wasn't only about his father, no, it was _all_ his family. Even his dad hated it, but unlike Damien, Gregory Scott didn't have the excuse of catching up on school work, to get out of it.

His dad would probably love for Damien to have '_fun'_ at a '_friends'_ house. Gregory was a firm believer in helping Damien get out of, and avoid any and all family related get togethers. He would be all to happy for Damien to at least spend Christmas with someone else.

Not that his father didn't want him a round. On the contrary, he and his dad spent a lot of time together. They talked and wrote letters to each other. In fact, his dad even knew about Danielle and was more than ecstatic about his sons development.

After the death of his mother, all he had left was his dad. And Damien had always respected his father, even more so after Gregory let him stay with his mother and let her fulfill her dreams.

Never once had Damien blamed his father for not trying hard enough to keep his mother alive. He gave her space to do what she believed in, even when it included deluding his only son. All to make her happy. More than anything Damien respected that his father and himself shared that feeling. Living to make Nellie Scott smile.

"Scott?" Danielle asked and Damien sighed.

"Yeah, I'll be there," he conceded and was pleased with her smile.

"I'm glad," she said "you shouldn't spend Christmas alone no matter what a prat you are," she laughed, "besides I already found you the perfect gift and it would have been sad if you declined to come."

Damien was again shocked and she smiled at his reaction.

"I know right?" she laughed, "I couldn't help myself."

He was really happy and yet kind of offended.

"Why would you do that?" he asked thinking of the money she'd spent on him. And now he felt obligated to get her something too. He couldn't shop for her. Not because he didn't know what she liked, but because no matter what he got her, she would act like she had the right to be angry with him for spending money on her, when in fact it was visa versa.

"You don't want it?" she asked sounding hurt and he felt guilty.

"No, it was just unexpected is all," he said with a shrug and she laughed.

"Wow, you really felt bad for a second didn't you?" she smiled back at him and he glared. She'd recently been reading him like a book. "It's okay, I saw it and it just screamed Scott. I couldn't help myself," she giggled and he was suddenly under the impression that it was a gag gift of sorts.

"I'm looking forward to it," he smirked, "perhaps I'll by you a new broom in return." he said and watched her face closely as confusion, excitement and anger crossed her features. She settled on anger.

"Don't you dare buy me something outrageous." she scolded and he smirked.

"Why not? I'm sure your gift is splendid. I have to return the favor." he said and she blushed. She put her hands on the broom.

"What ever you get me, I won't accept it." she said with a sigh, "now hold on, I'm going to have fun on this thing," she said and took off with no further warning. He grabbed hold of her tightly.

She may think that this was over, but it was decided. He was going to get her that broom, if only to see the look on her face. And he was going to make sure that she accepted it.

* * *

Hermione felt like an idiot. It wasn't until she emerged from the shower in a towel and saw the clothes waiting for her on the bed, did she realize her mistake. She peeked out of the room door and saw that her bag was gone. She sighed closing the door back and put on his dress shirt and boxers feeling the weight of how wearing a guys clothes seemed too intimate. She was also a little weirded out about how different it felt from wearing Blaise's things. This was a lot more exciting somehow.

She sat on the bed feeling better than she had this morning by leaps and bounds. She turned to the bedside table and found that he'd left a book beside the tray of food. She smiled. How was it possible for him to be so… so damn charismatic? Gentlemanly, chivalrous? All of it.

She picked up the book and sure enough it was straight from the Hermione Granger book selection if there ever was one. Too bad she didn't feel like reading. She felt like continuing what they'd started before her shower. Honestly she felt like she wanted to do so much more with him than just make out, but that would be too forward. On top of that, she thought that having sex this early in a relationship spelled disaster and he probably knew that too. She needed to calm her hormones. She wasn't a hussy and she could control herself.

She sat back against the headboard and enjoyed the lunch and the book. When Draco got back she'd be a lady. It was probably a bad idea for them to even snog with the way her body reacted to him.

* * *

Draco just gave up and dismissed his class for dinner early. It was like hell trying to sit and wait. Trying not to imagine what she was looking like in the clothes he picked out for her. He picked up his pace.

Hermione was surprised when Draco entered the room. She'd been so engulfed in her book that the time had passed by a lot faster than expected. She started to feel a little uncomfortable when he stopped in the doorway and just stared at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked setting the book down and standing from the bed. "What happened?"

Draco thought about saying something like 'nothing, I'm fine' or instead use what naturally wanted to come out, 'you look so bloody sexy Granger,' but that would have been too much. So instead he opted for action.

He closed the distance between them and held her around the waist before kissing her. She squeaked in surprise and he loved it. Just when he was about to pull away she moaned and let her tongue lick his bottom lip before lightly biting it and they deepened the kiss. Was she crazy? didn't she know what she was doing?

Hermione couldn't understand it. When he kissed her she just couldn't help herself. Still, Draco didn't seem to mind. But she should really stop before she went too far. She wasn't like Draco, he had amazing discipline in every thing he did especially emotionally, where as if she didn't stop now, there may be no stopping her at all.

Draco could almost cry when she pulled away. Who did she think she was to start that and then pull away? Who did she think _he_ was, like he was going to be able to control himself after she bit his lip like that. BIT IT!

"I'm sorry," she started and looked at him with a bashful smile, "I don't have the kind of control that you do," she said and he could hardly keep from looking utterly offended. And of course, as many of the things Hermione says often do, it got worse, "I shouldn't do things like that, pressuring you to do things that neither of us are ready for." she finished and smiled sheepishly.

Draco took a step back from her and looked down at her in his clothes, smelling like his body wash and looking at him with her eyes filled with admiration. How could he crush this little girl's vision. How could he ignore how much he wanted to strip his clothes off of her slowly and pretend that he had restraint, when he came back here with the sole purpose of seducing her?

But how could he not take advantage of her weakened state and continue, knowing that she was susceptible to him right now? He may not get another chance like this. She was obviously excited to see him and just might do anything right now.

What a dilemma.

He had to choose. To be the noble gentleman that she thought he was, or to be the horny sex deprived animal that he was at the moment.

"Draco…" Hermione started, "was it so weird?" she asked and looked embarrassed.

"No," Draco said with a smile. How could she use the word weird to describe it.

She smiled an awkward smile and then got back in the bed and with a hand, beckoned him to join her.

Being in bed with her probably wasn't the best idea at the moment, but hey, what the heck. Maybe she'd make the first move again. If she did and he followed along would she consider that wrong of him? He got on the bed and they sat side by side against the headboard. He looked at her and she seemed to be conflicted.

"What's up?" He asked.

Hermione didn't know how to say what she wanted. But she was thinking about spending time with him earlier and a thought came to mind.

"If you're not doing anything for the holidays," she started and Draco smiled expectantly, "would you want to spend some time with me?" she asked.

"I don't know, I'd have to check my schedule," he smirked and she frowned.

"I'm serious," she said and he laughed.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked and she frowned.

"Um, I don't know," she answered.

"Japan if you'd like," he offered and she shot him a look as though he were insane.

"How about something normal," she sighed.

"And what's normal?" he asked smiling at her reaction. He hadn't been joking.

"We can go to the Weasley's," she smiled at his disgusted face.

"Why don't we go somewhere alone?" he suggested and Hermione felt excitement rise in her. He laughed, "Where to then?"

"Somewhere muggle," she answered and he frowned.

"If that's what you want, to subject me to a foreign land, then I supposed I'd have no choice." he mumbled Hermione laughed and gave him a light shove.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that there's an arcade near by," she joked and he grinned at her.

"That's not a bad idea." he said honestly, "this time I'll have you beat with a bit of practice." he smiled at her and she smirked.

"I know the perfect place," she said. "We should go to Harry's."

"What?" he asked shocked, "What happened to being alone."

"Well I thought it'd be a lot of fun to hang out with Harry and Blaise. Maybe even Ron will join us. He'd love an arcade." she smiled at his expression.

Draco just didn't understand her.

"I think I'll have to draw the line there," he shrugged, "the three of them spells trouble." he sighed.

"Come now Draco," she smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "It'll be fun."

"Granger," Draco began but she cut him off.

"Who?" she asked and he couldn't help but smile.

"Suppose I should get used to calling you Hermione," he said and she nodded, "Yes well, Hermione, I really would rather spend time with my new girlfriend alone."

Hermione stood up from the bed.

"Either way, we should talk about this tomorrow." she sighed.

"Where are you going?" he asked and she smiled at him.

"To my room of course." she answered, gathering her things. She didn't want to go, but it was for the best that she did.

Draco couldn't believe she was going to leave tonight. He couldn't believe a lot of thing she did and he was starting to realize that he should. She was aware of the dangers of staying with him tonight. It was perfect. If she stayed, she'd have sex on her mind.

"Wait," he said and she stopped at the door. He didn't really know what to say so he just spew the first thing to come to mind.

"Stay the night and I'll spend Christmas at Potter's, with Blaise and even Ron if you like," he said, watching a smile spread across her face, and as soon as it was out of his mouth he regretted it.

Hermione dropped her things on the floor and jumped back into the bed. She pulled the blanket over herself and laid down smiling up at him.

Draco sighed. Well, what was done was done. He stripped down to his boxers smiling when he caught her staring and got in next to her.

They stayed up and talked most of the night until Hermione started to drift off. Draco wrapped his arms around her and let his hands wander her body. She made a noise of enjoyment and he kissed her back and shoulders. He let his hands slip into the waist band.

Hermione pushed against him and he pressed himself against her.

"Draco," she muttered.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"No sex okay," she said his hand froze. He took a deep breath and pulled his hand out of the boxers, then exhaled a shaky breath.

"Nothing sexual at all?" he asked in a whisper.

"Mmm," Hermione thought, "Not tonight." she mumbled and pushed herself back against him again, then took his hand and put it around her waist. His heart was racing and he was breathing hard.

This wasn't okay. He couldn't do this.

"Hermione," he said, smiling at how strange saying her name was and she grunted for him to continue. "I want to do more," he said kissing her neck and she moaned in response.

He let his hand slide from her waist to her hip and then down her thigh and when her breathing picked up, he smirked. He rubbed her inner thigh parting her legs and then he put his hand between them. When she didn't object, he pulled his hand away for only a moment to go back under the waistband.

She sighed in pleasure when he moved his fingers over the most sensitive spot, and then just like he had been fearing, she put her hand on his to still him. He resisted the urge to ignore her and instead he again moved his hand away, resting it back on her stomach.

He sighed and pulled her closer.

"Night Hermione," he said and she let out a small chuckle before responding.

"Night."

And then with one last yawn, she fell asleep, leaving him to his thoughts. He tried not to explore her body and keep his hands from straying from her waist. Another night of no sleep and then on top of that, he'd agreed to stay at Potter's for the holidays.

He was fucked, not literally of course. Oh, how he wished it _were_ literal. Who had said that good things come to those who wait? He could just kill that guy right about now. A pack of lies is what that tripe was. How long was he supposed to wait, until he was a decrepit old man with no libido left to use? Not that he could ever imagine a time when he'd have no sex drive, but you get the point.

He wanted it now, not later. He took a calming breath and tried not to think about her and the fun they could be having. If he could just get her to do it once, she'd be addicted to him and he knew it.

Cocky you say? No, he was really just that good.

But now he wouldn't even get any alone time with her over this vacation. Especially with those three bastards around. They were going to be all over her and he knew it. Even Blaise, if only to annoy him.

Draco shut his eyes determined to get some sleep. No matter how much he despised the situation, he was being given no real choice in the matter. All he could do was continue to try and coerce her little by little, until he got what he wanted. More like what he needed.

Draco wasn't giving up. They had a few more days of school left before his chances became null at Potter's. Hermione better be prepared because Draco had just decided that he didn't care about wrecking the image of 'ultimate self control,' she seemed to think he had. He would corner her every chance he got and she would be in his bed by Friday night.


	17. This Is It

**Merry Christmas everyone!**

**One more chapter and it will all be over, are you ready for that?**

**Happy Christmas guys, hope you enjoy my present.**

**I made it nice and long just for you.**

**

* * *

**

Innerhouse Relations

Chapter 17

**Thursday morning**

Draco woke the next morning feeling unbelievably refreshed. Once he'd finally managed to pass out last night, the sleep came easy. And when Hermione began to toss or turn, he would simply hold her tighter and she'd still.

He sat up a bit and looked down at her sleeping form with a smirk.

Today she was going to be in for it. He wasn't going to let up no matter what image of him he'd tarnish in her mind.

Still he had to strike a delicate balance. If he forced to much, she'd run, but if he gave her a taste, she'd most certainly come back for more. That was if he had the restraint to walk away from her if she did start giving in. He looked at her in peaceful slumber and supposed that there was no better time than now to test it.

Some people were always a little out of it when first waking up, and he could bet that Hermione was one of them.

He started to kiss her neck. He let his hands roam. He turned her so that she was on her back and he kissed her jaw. She smiled at him, her eyes still closed. He got between her legs and kissed her lips lightly.

"Mmm," she mumbled, "good morning,"

He smiled and let his hand run up her waist under the shirt and when he cupped her breast she let out a sigh. He bent down to her ear and gave it a little nibble.

"Morning," he whispered and she laughed lightly, bringing her arms up to circle his middle. Her hand rubbed across his bare back and the feeling was extraordinary. He smiled and continued to kiss her down her neck until he got to her chest. He unbuttoned the top few buttons until she was exposed to him then he waited to see her reaction.

She smiled, her eyes still shut and biting her lip. He took that as a green light and let his tongue lick her nipple before he took it into his mouth.

She moaned and arched under him. Her nails going into his back and brought one of her legs up around his waist to keep him in place. He let one of his hands slide up her thigh and cupped her butt pulling her against his stiffness. She moaned and then without warning, she took her hands from his back and put one in his hair and the other on his chest.

She pushed him back by the chest and sat herself up so that she was straddled on his bent legs . Then she pulled his head up to hers kissing him hard. She bit his lip and let her tongue tease his mouth, scraping her nails down his chest and holding tight to the hair on the back of his head.

Draco's heart was pounding and his breathing was heavy. He grabbed hold of her hips hard and she moaned into his mouth. He moved her against his hardness. Rubbing her up and down on him and she let her head fall back with a load moan. He licked the flesh of her exposed neck and moved her faster on him.

She pulled him closer and then he remembered what he was _supposed_ to be doing. Any moment now, she'd realize what she was doing and stop herself, leaving him like this. He needed to stop her for once so she'd be the one wanting more.

She leaned down and licked his ear lobe breathing deep and hard. Then kissing his jaw, she put her hands around his neck, one still in his hair and the other making trails down his back.

How could he really stop her? Hermione was unexpectedly a wild animal, he couldn't resist this. But he had to. He took a deep breath, put a hand in her soft curls and pulled her to kiss him. He lied her back down on the bed and then, with the most effort he'd ever used in his life, he pulled away from her.

Her lips were swollen, her breast rising and falling with her heavy breathing, eyes dilated, arms up above her head, pulling her hair back from her face and biting her lower lip the way she often did.

He took another deep breath and got up from the bed. He looked down at her face, with its wide searching eyes staring at him in disbelief. He smiled inwardly. He knew that look. The '_where the hell do you think your going in the middle of this, when I'm not through with you yet_?' face.

He leaned down and gave her a short peck on the lips, then headed to the bathroom. Before closing the door he turned to her.

"We have to get down to breakfast in thirty minutes. I'll be quick so you can get in next." he said and Hermione sat up with her mouth hanging open, still unable to speak. He tried not to smirk. "My wands on the side table if you need clothes or anything," he said and shut the door on her.

Hermione sat there in shock. What the hell had just taken place here?

She was so offended right now that she still couldn't get her jaw to shut. She heard him start up the shower and couldn't stop thinking of his sexy naked body dripping with water.

Ugh, she couldn't get it out of her head, her body was in a frenzy and her mind was trying to get her to go join him.

She gritted her teeth, finally able to get her mouth to shut and couldn't believe her own behavior. He'd stopped them so that they wouldn't do something stupid and here she was getting mad about what she'd been telling him was so great about him just last night. She should be happy that he had this kind of restraint when she didn't. She would have just made a big mistake if it weren't for him.

Somehow her logic about the situation, wasn't making her feel better like it usually did. Even though she had made perfect sense of the situation, it didn't stop her mind from imagining herself in that shower with him.

She looked at his wand on the side table and thought about conjuring up some of her clothes. The house elves had probably washed her stuff by now. But then she looked up at the bathroom door and for the love of god, she just couldn't stop her feet from dragging her to the bathroom.

She stopped in front of the door and tried to think this through. They had to get to breakfast in twenty minutes. But who cares if they missed breakfast, she could hold out on eating until lunch. She put her hand on the knob.

What was wrong with her? She was acting like a floozy. There was no way she should be feeling like this about him. Just a little bit of morning fun was turning her into a horny, sex crazed woman. She took a deep breath and tried to pull her hand from the knob. It was wrong. If she saw him in there naked, how would she stop herself then?

The last time they'd been in the shower together, she hadn't really got a good look at everything. It had all happened so fast. This time they could savor the moments. But she'd regret it.

Or would she?

She hadn't regretted what they'd done at the camp, even when she thought she was being the mistress. So how could she regret anything now that they were together and were supposed to be doing these things?

What if it ruined their relationship?

She didn't want to think about this anymore. He wouldn't let anything happen anyway so what was the harm of having fun. He would make sure that she didn't do anything that she regretted. She suddenly felt reassured.

She was about to turn the knob when the door opened and Draco stood there in his towel staring down at her. She stepped back in shock and he smiled.

"I, um," she began blushing and trying not to stare at his wet nakedness, but failing. She took a deep breath, put her hands behind her back, resisting the urge to touch him. She quickly cleared her throat, "needed to pee," she said and then ran past him and shut the door to the bathroom.

Draco smirked. He hadn't expected her to chase so early.

He heard the shower start again and he walked away from the door forcing himself to get dressed and not think about her.

Hermione stepped into the shower and washed up quickly. She was so embarrassed and she wondered if he knew what she was thinking. All the dirty things she was thinking about him. God! And his body when he opened the door…

Stop it!

She started to wash her hair and tried not think about him.

Draco was sitting on the bed with a book when Hermione finally emerged in a towel. They made eye contact and for a moment it seemed like something was about to happen, but Draco could see the effects of his plan coming to light already and he didn't want to ruin it now. If they started something they wouldn't be able to finish it yet. No matter how much she thought she wanted it right now, she'd stop him when they got too far.

He got up from the bed and handed her his wand.

"I'll let you get dressed," he said and went out into the living room.

Hermione could just die. When he got up from the bed, her heart started to race with anticipation. The look that he'd had in his eyes made her feel like he was going to rip that towel off of her and have at. And she'd wanted him to.

She sighed and glanced at the clock. She needed to hurry.

**

* * *

During breakfast**

Tiffany and her table were ecstatic to see Professor Granger at the staff table that morning, and it seemed that the whole of the hall was in agreement as she was met with an ovation from both Nate's and the neutral tables.

Professor Malfoy took a bow obviously in better spirits, while Professor Granger sat down in her seat looking embarrassed and confused. And the hall laughed.

Tiffany and Nate sent each other a smile from across the room. She stood up and all the students watched as she walked over to the Slytherin table, shoved Nate over and then sat beside him planting a quick kiss on his cheek before taking his plate and filling up on food for herself.

He smiled at her, and then frowned looking down at the plate she'd commandeered.

It was like this was a sign to everyone that the war was over and all the students shuffled around the room finding lost friends, introducing new friends and having a good time.

Hermione looked out over the hall trying to figure out what had just happened. All of the students were mixed together and she could hardly tell which table belonged to what house. Since when did the students eat in these groups?

"What did I miss?" she asked looking over to Draco who shrugged.

"Just the end of house rivalry is all," he said with his cool nonchalance, filling up his plate, "too bad you weren't here to witness history," he sighed trying not to smile at her crestfallen face.

"Are you kidding me?" she said in outrage, "I was gone for a few days and I somehow missed the end of over a thousand years of animosity?" she huffed.

Draco tried not to laugh, "Afraid so," he answered before taking a bite of toast.

He watched her as she stared out over the crowed unable to believe it. To bad she didn't know that without her absence, it wouldn't have been possible.

**

* * *

After breakfast**

Draco walked out of the Great Hall with a fuming Hermione, trying his best not to be a total wanker and laugh at her temper tantrum. She looked back and caught him smirking.

"It's not funny," she whined and he put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. She smacked his arm. "it was epic and I missed it," she said.

Draco checked to make sure that they were alone in the corridor before he put an arm around her waist and pulled her to him.

"Don't worry, I'll make you feel better." he chuckled and she blushed.

"It's school hours," she murmured looking away from him and he smirked pulling her face to his.

"I know," he said in a husky voice, "Doesn't it make things that much more exciting?" he asked before kissing her. He could feel her smile against his lips and then her arms were around his neck and he was caught by surprise.

Hermione tried to settled her racing heart. It was just a hand around her waist and a small kiss, but it sent waves of desire through her body. She tried to pull away but couldn't. Infact, she was pretty sure that she had just initiated the snogging. My god, they were in Hogwarts, and they were Professors, she needed to get a grip on reality.

She had to stop this. Okay, all she had to do was pull away, why was that so hard?

Draco held her lightly. Not wanting to take things too far. After all, he hadn't expected for her to rush at him like this, and he needed to keep cool and break this up. Leave her before she left him.

He pulled away from her but kept his arm around her waist. Then he looked down at her again biting her lower lip and removed his hand, took a step back and put a small distance between them. She had that same look on her face from this morning.

"Come on," he smiled, "we don't want to be late." he said and she turned her reddening face away.

"Right," she answered and he walked her the rest of the way to her class. As they walked he kept an uncomfortable closeness between them and kept his smirk in check as she tried not to either distance herself or get closer.

**

* * *

Draco's Free period**

Later that day Draco walked down the hall toward Hermione's class. He had a half hour free period and decided to stick to his plan of seducing Hermione every moment he got. He wasn't sure what he could do with students around, but his mere presence would be enough to drive her crazy with the way she'd unexpectedly been behaving today.

When he got to the door of her room and he waited, listening in on the conversation.

"And so we were all pretty mad with Professor Malfoy for not going after you straight away." said a Hufflepuff girl and Draco wasn't too happy about them recapping her absence with her.

"So," Hermione started slowly, "He was going to come and get me?" she asked shocked.

"McGonagall wouldn't let him," someone answered. "Dunno why."

There was silence and Draco wondered what she was thinking.

"Anyway," Hermione began, clearing her throat. "anyone want to change the subject." she said awkwardly.

"Professor," someone started sounding amused, "you said we could have free discussion today and we want to tell you what happened while you were gone is all," he said.

Hermione sighed as the students chuckled.

Draco decided that this seemed like a good time to enter the room.

The laughter died down to silence as he walked down the isle.

Hermione watched him wide eyed as he parked himself beside her at the front of the room.

Hermione's heart started to pound in her chest when she saw him. She cleared her throat and tried to ignore her excitement and focus on the fact that he was unexpectedly interrupting her class.

"Yes?" Hermione questioned sounding somewhat annoyed and Draco smirked down at her.

"Had some free time so I thought I'd pay you a visit." he answered then sat on top of her desk. "since you're having open discussion I wont be interrupting anything will I?" he asked smiling down at her with his perfect smile.

Hermione just stared at him for a moment trying to catch her breath and get her brain to register his words. When the students around the room began to chuckled under their breaths, she woke from the fantasy she'd been having about where his lips could be if they were back in his room.

She cleared her throat and turned away from him.

"I suppose…" she said and then looked out at the students, "Okay everyone. What are you doing over vacation?" she asked to get the subject away from her and Draco. Apparently, from the looks and smiles that the student were sending each other, a change of subject wasn't going to happen.

"Professor Malfoy," a girl started, "Did you go and get her?" she asked and the class was on the edge of their seats ready to relay every word to rest of the Hogwarts residents. Draco smiled at them and then at Hermione who's face was pink.

"No," he laughed, "She finally came to senses and came running back," he smiled and Hermione glared at him.

The students laughed.

"So," someone spoke up and everyone calmed, "are you guys…" he started and Hermione put a hand up.

"Please excuse us for a moment," she interrupted quickly and then grabbed Draco by the arm pulling off the desk and dragging him from the room.

Draco laughed as they got to the end of the corridor and turned the corner before she pulled him to a stop and looked up at him angrily but also obviously embarrassed.

"Draco," she began with an exasperated sigh, "you can't just do that."

"Do what?" he asked with a chuckle.

"That," Hermione said waving her hands in front of him and somehow gesturing to his demeanor. He looked down at her, shrugged and shook his head with a smile of confusion. "That!" she repeated waving her hands again.

Draco laughed, "What? Is it my very being, that's upsetting you?"

She glared at him and then looked away, "Sort of," she mumbled.

"Ouch," he grinned, clutched his heart.

"I mean," she sighed, "you cant just come in there, being all aloof and telling students about personal matters." she explained, a blush rising to her cheeks. He smirked.

"My apologies," Draco smiled, snaking an arm around her waist and leaning down to her ear. He licked her neck. "I guess I'll go if I'm being that much of a bother." he whispered and when he made to move away, she grabbed hold of his shirt to hold him to her and then kissed him.

He pushed her back against the wall and deepened the kiss. He removed her hands from his shirt and pinned them to the wall above her head before pulling away and looking down on her with a smirk.

"You should be heading back now," she said, "least they suspect what their professors are up to," he laughed and then walked away down the hall trying to ignore the ache in his groin. He made it look easy but his body was punishing him.

Hermione stood their again in shock and Draco didn't need to look back at her to know that it'd been a job well done.

**

* * *

Hermione's free period**

"Glad that you're back," Emon said before exiting the room. And Hermione waved at him as he went.

She was in high spirits because of the exceptionally warm welcome she was receiving from students at her return.

Hermione sat behind her desk looking over the parchments she'd add to her growing pile back in her room that needed grading. That's what she'd be doing over vacation she thought and let out a heavy sigh.

"Grading got you down?" she heard Draco's voice speak knowingly from the door and she looked up shocked.

"What are you doing here?" she asked trying not to be too giddy at his sudden arrival in her now empty classroom.

"Gave my class a bit of free time in order to see how you're doing." he shrugged, standing in the door way and Hermione frowned.

"I don't need you checking up on me Draco. Now get back to your class." she said and her voice was barely able to sound stern, while trying to snub out the excitement in the pit of her stomach, and drinking the image of him leaned against the door frame. Her heart sped up as he came into the room and shut the door behind him.

"They'll be fine. Now that the houses are all chummy, there's no need to worry about leaving them unattended." he smirked walking slowly up to her and her legs trembled.

How could he continue to have this effect on her. Things hadn't been like this before, so what had changed from the time that they left camp, to the time that they'd become a couple? Not just the change in her relation with him, but the change in herself.

She'd never had to contain herself with any other man. Nor had she had to go out of her way to stop her mind from thinking dirty thoughts and her body from trying to turn those thoughts into reality. Having to try not to leap into his arms.

First off, she had to think about the fact that she'd had plenty of boyfriends, between the time that she and Ron had broken up (18) to now (21). And of those five or six guys, they'd all asked her out and she was not attracted to them outside of personality, even when some were really quite attractive. Then she'd had sexual encounters with only two.

Of those two, she'd only had sex with one. And the one she'd had sex with had waited a year until finally she decided it was time, only to have her break it off right after because she said it just didn't feel right between them.

What was it about Draco that gave her this carnal instinct and made her want to jump him every time he was in a room with her. As she was trying to contemplate all of this, Draco had made his way to her desk and was standing only the tables width away from her.

Hermione tried to keep herself rooted to her chair and not jump over the desk to him. Everything had an explanation, she just needed to think this through and resist these urges, until she figured it out.

She was obviously lusting over him, one, being his good looks. Two, was of course his quirky yet aloof personality. Three, he had a presence and it was demanding. Which led to number four, the fact that he was aggressive and yet distant about it, driving her crazy.

One moment he was overpowering her and then he could somehow walk away without a second glance leaving her wondering, what if? He seduced her without even touching her and she could hardly stand the aching he caused her to have whenever he restrained himself.

Then she hated herself, because she was the one who thought his restraint was admirable. It was, yes, but so damned annoying. He wasn't ready to take the next step, and neither was she, but how could he keep himself from doing it anyway?

She could see the heat radiating off of him sometimes when they were together. He had pure want in his eyes when he looked at her, and she only recognized it as such, because she now knew what it was to want someone this way.

So why was he doing these things?

Coming here when no one was around and closing the door behind him and sauntering up to her in that casual manner and standing only a foot away from her, probably knowing and well aware that she was mere seconds away from making sure that he didn't leave here until he finally finished what she knew he was about to start?

She tried to catch her breath. She hadn't even said that out loud and it took the wind out of her. She looked up at him and he was giving her the look, his face serious and his eyes piercing. She bit her lip and tried to break the eye contact but couldn't.

She needed to say something. Get them both focused on a different situation, but she couldn't. Her brain was preoccupied with keeping her bum in the seat so she didn't get herself into trouble.

Was he testing her? She didn't want to disappoint. She didn't want to give in and put their relationship in jeopardy.

Then he smirked…

Hermione stood from the seat, rounded the table and began snogging him senseless. He lied her across the desk knocking papers to the floor, then got between her legs and looked down on her breathing deeply. He took one last deep breath before hopping from the desk and pulling her into a sitting position.

Hermione wasn't going to let this one go. She pulled him close, wrapping one arm around his neck pulling him into another kiss and with her other hand she…

Draco moaned into her mouth as Hermione's hand rubbed his hardened member. Then, as best as she could with the angle and his pants in the way, she closed her hand on him and slowly stroked.

This was it. He couldn't stop her this time. His eyes closed and it was over.

Hermione was shocked when he suddenly caught her hand in a tight hold and pushed her down onto the desk. He kissed her harder, pulling her legs up to circle his waist. She held her legs in place and he kissed down her neck while moving her against him using the hold he had on her bum. She tried to stifle her cry of pleasure by biting hard on her lip and when he emitted a low growl and sucked on the nape of her neck, she couldn't help but moan out loud.

Draco needed to get back his sanity. He wanted to take her on this desk, but that was the problem exactly. They were on her desk. It was only a matter of time before she realized that too and he was pretty sure that unlike him, she'd find it inappropriate.

He ran his hands up, then back down her sides and she squirmed, making this even harder. He undid her legs, separating them and then stepped out of her reach.

Hermione didn't bother getting up she just shut her eyes and sighed, trying to catch her breath. Why would he stop? Then suddenly she realized that they were in her classroom on her desk and she understood. Was she such a fiend that it didn't matter where she was while having sex now?

She slowly sat up and was greeted by his smiling face full of lust.

"Perhaps," he started, "I should get back to my class after all."

Hermione smiled back, feeling grateful that he'd stopped them before she did something stupid. If he stayed, they may end up in the same situation.

"Yeah," she said.

Draco opted for a goodbye wave over a goodbye kiss as he left the room.

**

* * *

During lunch**

Damien sat bedside Danielle and across from Tanner, Jasmine and Spencer, wondering how he'd managed to fuck himself over so utterly.

While _they_ sat around laughing and having a gay old time, it had dawned on him that he was at his worst in groups. He could hardly contain his annoyance at there lighthearted banter.

It wasn't that Damien couldn't stand for others to be happy, it was more that he hated being left out. It was probably a trait that he should work on, he knew, but he wasn't looking forward to working on it with this lot especially because he'd been doing an unbelievable job of keeping his temper in check around Danielle recently.

With Flores and Spencer together, he'd surely end up ruining what ever image he'd manage to create in Danielle's mind. Add to that, that Flores's new girlfriend, Jasmine was tagging along and he was sure to be angry throughout most of this trip.

Jasmine was in his year and house, and it wasn't that she wasn't a decent person, it was that she annoyed the hell out of him with her overly happy attitude. She was just too damn optimistic. He'd often thought she'd been meant for Gryffindor, and now he was pretty sure that he was right.

How could he spend the whole of winter vacation with this lot and not end up destroying what he had with Marcy. He sighed. It was pretty much impossible and he knew it.

"Scott," Danielle spoke from beside him and he realized where he was. "What's wrong?" she asked and he took a deep breath trying to not be annoyed with her. It wasn't her that bothered him, it was the others. Still, Damien was notorious for taking out his anger on others.

He could differentiate. He had to. Being pissed at the others wasn't as bad as taking it out on her. And maybe she'd understand if he explained his annoyances to her. He doubted it. She was always talking about how Nix was hilarious and how likeable he was. That she was surprised that he didn't have a girlfriend. It was a bunch of nonsense.

With all the time they'd spent together and all the effort he'd put into things with her, all the holding back and putting forward he'd done… it was like she had no idea that he liked her.

How could she be so oblivious and then on top of that, she came to him, telling him of the funny happenings she had when she was walking to some classes or what not, with Nix. God, he just couldn't understand it, her incessant need to talk to him about Spencer all the time. He heard less about Flores and they were meant to be best friends. On top of that she went around calling him by his first name.

Did she really like Nix?

"Scott?" she asked and Damien gritted his teeth. Would she ever going to stop referring to him so formally. She claimed that they were friends now and yet _Spencer_ was the only one she seemed to want to be friendly with.

Was he wasting his time? It suddenly felt like it.

"Are you listening?" Danielle persisted and he turned to her shooting a nasty glare.

"What do you care?" he said before getting up and exiting from the hall.

When he got into the corridor, he immediately berated himself. He'd just done what he'd been fearing he'd do.

There was no way he could go to Flores's place. He couldn't stop his misdirected rage.

**

* * *

Before dinner**

"Just talk to me," Danielle pleaded, following closely beside Damien.

She'd been cornering him every chance she got and she'd hunted him down again. She probably found out his next class from Nix, what with them being as close as they are. He sighed.

"Nothing's wrong," he said and she scoffed.

"Apparently," she said sarcastically and Damien stopped in his tracks turning on her.

"You some sort of expert on me, now are you?" he asked looming over her.

Before she knew it, she was backed against the wall but she wore a look of determination.

"I'd like to think I've become something of an expert, yes." she said smugly and he clenched his jaw putting his hands flat against the wall on either side of her head.

He smiled down at her with a dark grin.

"Really," he started in a matter-of-fact tone. "Supposing you could tell me what I'm feeling then, seeing as to how you're so sure of yourself," he said. "But then, if you knew that, you wouldn't be asking me. would you?"

Danielle glared at him then smirked.

"I was going to wait for you to say it, but if you want me to tell you why your acting like such a prat, then I guess I can explain it to you," she said annoyed.

He looked down on her with a frown.

"If you liked me," she started and then looked away as a blush rose to her cheeks, "you could just say so instead of going out of your way to impress me." she mumbled.

Damien took a step back out of shock.

"I'm not stupid," she continued, "everyone was pushing it down my throat and then there's also a such thing as the gossip mill in Hogwarts you know? I was bound to find you out with the way Spencer and Tanner talked about you all the time and then add Jasmine to that. And eventually I got Andrew to tell me why every guy in school was avoiding me and all he would say was that I'd become off limits." she shrugged angrily at the stupidity of it all.

"I'm not a possession," she started and her voice trembled, "And had you just told me what was going on, you'd have known that I liked you too, and that I could make my own decisions," she said and tears welled up in her eyes.

Damien looked down at her unable to speak.

"Yes well," Danielle cleared her throat, "I'll let you stew over that one for a while. Get back to me when you find your bollocks will you." she said before stomping away.

**

* * *

After dinner**

Hermione was walking back to her room after dinner, feeling disappointed. Draco had skipped out and she wondered why.

He was probably in his room and she couldn't go there just yet. She was still trying to recover from their last encounter. Maybe she should suck it up and go check on him. It was kind of messed up to go to her room just because she couldn't handle seeing him right now. What if he was sick?

She sighed, feeling like a total jerk, but honestly, she'd be of no use to him right now. Especially if he was sick. She'd probably try to take advantage of him in his weakened state.

Hermione turned the corner, deep in thought about what she'd do to him if he didn't have the strength to stop her or himself, when suddenly a hand was pulling her backward.

She made to scream when a hand closed over her mouth and before she knew what has happening, she was being dragged into the broom closet she'd just passed by.

When the door closed, her attacker wrapped an arm around her middle pinning her arms to her sides.

Hermione was about to panic until a deep chuckle sounded and Hermione wanted to deck Draco in his head.

"Are you insane!" she yelled from behind his hand, muffling her anger.

Draco released her and before she could complain he spun her around pushed her back against the wall and started the snogging.

He smiled when she started undoing the buttons of his dress shirt, completely leaving the anger of being kidnapped behind. She grazed his back and chest with her nails once she got the shirt opened and then before he new it, she was tugging on his belt.

He needed to distract her from going there again.

She yelped in shock when he lifted her from the ground by the waist and her instinct made her wrap her legs around his hips and hold onto him around the neck.

She fisted his hair in her hands and kissed him harder. With all of her might she pulled out of the kiss looking down at him trying to catch her breath. Remembering that he'd scared the daylights out of her.

"Malfoy," she breathed angrily and he laughed out loud.

"Granger," he countered.

"Are you mad, pulling me in here like that," she scolded and he rested his head on her chest laughing.

"Thought it'd be fun to pretend we were students again," he smiled up at her, "What? You don't want to fantasize with me?" he chuckled.

Hermione pushed him back. "Put me down," she said and held her tight pressing himself against her. She gasped.

"Sure you want me to put you down?" he laughed and Hermione being who she is, did exactly what he hoped she'd do, she got defensive.

"That's right, put me down," She said and as soon as he let her feet touch ground, she flew out of the door.

Draco laughed buttoning up his shirt and then quickly chasing after her. When he caught up to her, her loomed over her shoulder.

"Call me Malfoy again," he whispered in her ear, "It kind of turns me on." he said with a laugh and Hermione stopped, turned to him, opened her mouth to say something, and then closed her mouth, turned away and continued to walk.

She may be a little pissed off at him, but she was more than turned on by him as well.

**

* * *

Nightly shower**

Hermione was in the shower and Draco was in her room waiting for her. When they'd reached her room, he'd begun to undress. At first she was confused, but he proceeded to climb into her bed and pull out a book, so she assumed that he'd invited himself to spend the night.

She wasn't at all upset about it but she just couldn't figure out why he'd want to stay the night with her if they were trying not to have sex. Couldn't he see that she was having a tough time with all of this? Well, of course he could.

Maybe he was just that sure of himself and his restraint, that he wasn't worried. Right about now, she wished he'd come through the door like he had at camp and forget about restraint. But he wouldn't.

Draco was pacing the room trying not to go into the bathroom and ravage her. If he did that, saw her naked in the shower again, then he'd regret it when she stopped him.

He sat down on the bed and took a deep breath. If he could just wait until she got out and they were in bed together, then at least he could be sure that he wouldn't be going outside of her moral boundaries by doing it in some random place.

She'd want it in the bed. He was sure of that. Because they'd be in a place she found acceptable for sex, it was one less reason for her to stop him.

And he needed all the reasons he could get.

Even now that she was eager and waiting, he just couldn't guarantee that her morals would kick in at the least opportune time.

He took a deep breath and decided that he wouldn't push any further for today. He'd wait for her to come to him now, and he'd let her initiate then finally take his chance to finish.

**

* * *

Bed time**

Draco and Hermione climbed into bed and conversation wasn't coming as easily as it always had been. So they both gave up chatting and turned out the lights, saying goodnight and snuggling close for bed.

**

* * *

Early Friday morning**

Hermione couldn't sleep. How was she supposed to with him holding her so close. Once upon a time, spooning with Draco was comforting. But now, being so close was excruciating. His strong frame caged her and made her feel trapped. Held captive by this overly sexy and aggressive man. She loved it.

Damn his good looks and charm. She'd never had a problem with any other man before. Then again, she'd never met a man like him. Seriously, he was too damn pretty to be real, and yet, his solid body, pressed close to hers, was proof of his existence.

She wanted to just straddle him and have at. She sighed. How could he sleep at a time like this?

Draco lay wake listening to Hermione's repeated deep sighs and was annoyed with her incessant leg shaking.

'I know what you mean' he thought. This was hell on earth. He was waiting for her to give in and just touch him so he could unleash himself on her. He knew she was thinking about it, what with those deep sighs she kept emitting every few seconds.

All she had to do was make a move and he'd put her out of her misery. Stop both of their suffering. Was it so hard for her?

Well he'd waited enough. If he did something now, she'd most assuredly let him finish this time. She'd been waiting all day. But he was afraid that she'd stop him again, and he couldn't handle that.

But then, if she started things, wouldn't it be more likely for her to stop herself. She'd probably think he didn't want it or something, or that she was pressuring him. She was so stupid sometimes. All of this was too complicated, and he'd had enough.

It was now or never.

"I cant take this anymore," came a voice and Draco was surprised that it was Hermione. She sat up and got on top of him. "Draco, wake up," she commanded and Draco looked up at her shocked.

"Yeah?" he asked confused.

"Okay," she sighed, "You wouldn't let me do anything I would regret right?" she asked and he frowned not understanding where this was coming from.

"No," he answered.

"So if I wanted to have sex right now, you would stop me if you thought I was making a mistake right?" she asked and he thought that over. The answer was no.

"Yeah," he said.

"So if I were to initiate sex right now, and you didn't stop me, then I'm to assume that I shouldn't have any regrets about it because you wouldn't let me make such a huge decision in the spur of the moment, without being completely sure of what I wanted, right?" she asked and he had to recap that in his head to make sure he got it all.

Right about now, he wouldn't stop her even if he thought that she would have regrets, which he was pretty sure she wouldn't, so why go into detail?

"Right," he answered.

"And you wouldn't be pressured into anything that you didn't want to do right? Like you wouldn't just be having sex with me because I asked?" she went on and that one he could answer honestly.

"Of course not," he laughed.

"So you want to do this too then?" she asked, her face lit with anticipation. He couldn't help but laugh.

"More than you know," he answered with a smirk. She smiled down at him.

"You wont think me terribly undisciplined, for wanting to do this even though we've only been official for a day?" she sighed. "I know that I have no patience and I'm sorry if I'm making you do something that you don't want to do." she said solemnly.

Draco couldn't take this. He turned her over and kissed her angrily. She moaned into his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled back and pulled his shirt over his head and then pulled her by the arm to sit up and he removed hers as well. He kissed her neck and shoulders. He was glad to see that she hadn't bothered with a bra tonight and cupped her breast, laying her back down.

He kissed her lips again and pulled down her night pants. She gasped as her underwear was removed with them and he smiled. He trailed kissing down her neck, collarbone, stopping to lick her nipples, then continued down her ribs which were apparently ticklish, until he reached her hips and she stopped him with a hand.

"Wait," she murmured.

He shut is eyes tight, gritted his teeth and swallowed hard. This couldn't be real. No, it wasn't happening. He rested his forehead on her stomach, the both of them breathing hard and he honestly felt like he might cry.

"I, um," she began, catching her breath and Draco didn't want to hear it. He sighed and rolled over on his back beside her.

"It's okay," he said through gritted teeth trying to calm down. And it was okay. After all, he should have expected this. Everything he did with her always backfired. He wasn't angry with her, just extremely annoyed. He got up from the bed, turned to her and sighed, "I'll take the couch tonight," he said and she looked up at him guiltily.

Draco grabbed his wand and went out into the living area. He conjured up a blanket and pillow, then started up a fire before laying down and after about an hour of fuming, finally fell asleep.


	18. What We've All Been Waiting For

**Alright!**

**FINAL CHAPTER!**

**One more QUESTION.**

I want to change the summary to something more relevant. Any ideas? Or maybe a quote from the story that says it all. I like those.

**Well give me your thoughts and hope you enjoy this final chapter.**

* * *

Innerhouse Relations

Chapter 18

Draco awoke when Hermione straddled his body in nothing but a thin sheet to cover herself.

She smiled down at him with an evil grin and Draco instantly knew that he was still asleep on Hermione's couch and fantasizing about her in a dream. So what was the point in trying not to indulge.

This was perhaps the only way he was going to have Hermione.

He lifted a hand and dragged the sheet from her body smirking at how his fantasies were more accurate, now that he'd glimpsed her in real life.

He sighed. He wanted the real her, not another figment of his imagination.

But this was so much easier. She was always so submissive in his dreams. She would lay there and only react to his touches. She wouldn't stop him, only beg for more.

But then, the real Hermione, were she here, would be demanding, as he'd recently found out. She'd try and take control, even if just a little. She knew where she wanted to be satisfied. She pulled him in, when she wanted him closer and directed his path to what she liked.

How could his imagination even compare.

He sighed, looking up at the goddess straddling his lap and pushed this fictional Hermione out of his mind. She wasn't enough. Nothing ever would be until he had the real one. And even then, he was sure that having Hermione would ensure that he could take no other.

Draco woke up in the cold living room. The morning sun coming in through her balcony.

It was still too early to be up for breakfast, but he wasn't going back to sleep. He stretched out his limbs and decided that he'd sneak away to his room before the castle woke up.

Besides, he could use some alone time.

Draco recalled that the last time that he'd masturbated had been after that night at The Three Broomsticks with Hermione. After finding out that she'd fantasized about him, there were needs he had to attend to before seeing her again, and he had met those needs that night.

That was two long weeks ago and he was in need of some sort of release. No matter that it wasn't the one he wanted, it was all he was going to get.

With that in mind he hurried to Hermione's room to retrieve his clothes so that he could get out of here, and get started on the task at hand.

Upon entering her room, he stopped in his tracks at what he discovered.

It seemed that Hermione hadn't bother to clothe herself after their encounter last night, and her naked body lay tangled in her bed sheet. She'd obviously been having a rough night. Her blanket was kicked to the floor along with most of her pillows. Her mattress was half exposed from under the fitted sheet and she was spread out diagonally across her bed. Arms above her head and legs open, the over sheet she was tangled in, hadn't covered any of the her sacred places and Draco couldn't help but stare.

Was the universe conspiring against him? Was this some sort of sick joke to test his failing restraint even further?

If it was, than he was about to fail.

Draco put a knee on the bed, careful not to cause a ruckus and wake her. When she didn't stir, he quietly continued until he was between her legs and his hardness pressed against his boxers when he hovered above her entrance.

His hands planted on either side of her shapely body held him above her and he marveled at what was his.

She was his to have and for some reason she didn't understand this concept. He wasn't being possessive, he was being honest. After all, he was also hers should she ask it of him. That's what it meant to be in a serious relationship. Not to say that he'd had many, but this was how he felt it should be. That they should own each other.

He leaned down and kissed her parted lips lightly and when Hermione stirred, he prayed that she wouldn't wake. He wasn't done with her just yet.

But of course, as it had been established earlier, the universe hated him and Hermione slowly opened her eyes.

Draco tried to sit up, but he couldn't put a distance between them.

"Draco," she whispered and his breathing picked up at her breathy voice. She hesitated, her cheeks going pink, "I'm sorry, about last night," she said and Draco didn't know how to respond.

The memories of last night bringing up a harsh anger. There was no apologizing about something like that. Words couldn't fix what she'd done.

"Then," he started, bringing his lips to hers for a short kiss before going on, "If, you're sorry, then let me have you." he said in a dark, husky and dry tone.

Hermione looked up at him confused. Not at his words, but at his behavior. This was the Draco she knew, but he'd never come off so vulgar before. His body was tensed and his voice strained.

He was obviously holding back anger, which she found to be acceptable after her treatment of him last night, but he was scary. Not in the aggressive way she liked, but in a way that made her feel like he was an animal ready to pounce.

She stared up at him and his jaw clenched. She could feel his mood get darker and darker. She needed to answer him, but she was afraid to, because her answer right now wasn't going to be what he wanted to hear.

Draco couldn't stand it anymore. Her silence was answer enough. He watched her flinch as he sat up and then when he climbed off the bed her body relaxed. She was afraid of him, he noted and sighed.

Great… just what he needed. He had anger issues, it was true. But he'd never do anything to her, and now he was getting more pissed that she even thought he would hurt her. He gathered his clothes and went out into the living room to get dressed.

Hermione sat on her bed trying to slow her heart. The glare he'd given her was pure evil and she wondered if she'd warranted it. But then she knew that she had. She'd led him on the whole day yesterday and then couldn't get over her fears to seal the deal.

She recalled how angry she'd been when he kept leaving her in the middle of things, but he'd had good reason. Whereas, she'd gone on about how she was ready and how if he wanted it, then they should take the next step. And then, she'd stopped him.

She had her own reasons for it. Reasons that seemed all the more important, now that she was faced with his wrath just now. She didn't know if her last minute decision to stop him last night had been a good idea. But she wasn't regretting it. She needed more time before she gave into him.

She heard her front door slam shut and sighed, the least she could do was tell him why she'd stopped him. It seemed only fair. He deserved to know what she was thinking, and hopefully once he did, he'd understand, and forgive her.

Hermione took a relaxing bath since it was still early.

If she'd learned anything from the last time that Draco was mad at her, she was going to need her strength to get him to listen to anything she had to say. The last time he'd been upset, she'd been painfully ignored and glared at and she was hardly looking forward to more of his steely coldness. Still, she wanted to fix things as soon as she could, so that they could get past it and get on with having sex.

That's right, she still wanted to have sex with him, and badly. She just had to do some things pertaining to her own insecurities before they did the deed. Hopefully tonight, she'll have gotten everything straightened out with him and they could move slowly. If she could resist jumping at him like a wild animal.

Hermione blushed at her recent behavior and then smiled. She did enjoy the sporadic heat that always rose between them. Then she suddenly feared that after they finally had sex, that passion would be gone.

Was it a one time only thing?

On her part, she was pretty sure that what ever kind of lust it was that took her over when she was with him, it wouldn't die so easily. She was also sure that her insecurity about him not feeling the same way, wasn't going to stop her from having sex with him when the time came.

Even if it was just once, she wanted the passion he was holding back.

* * *

Draco was in his room taking a shower and just too angry to even think of masturbating, which he was sure he would regret when he came face to face with her again and his aching need was before him once more.

As for now though, he couldn't get anything to make sense in his head. Why would she stop him? Why wouldn't she put her clothes back on before she want to sleep? Why didn't she answer him?

More than anything, why was she afraid of him?

He fisted his hair and then punched the tiled wall in front of him. He'd never had a woman be afraid of him. It was driving him crazy thinking that she may think of him, the way his mother thought of Lucius.

It was so insulting, he just couldn't fathom it. She must know that he'd never hit her or anything of the sort right? For gods sake, he was an angry person, but he wasn't violent. If he was, then he'd have killed that Kyle guy back at camp. Or he'd have taken what he wanted from her a long time ago as his father had done on many occasions with many women, in their house while he and his mother could do nothing.

Bile rose in his throat. He wasn't that kind of person. He wanted to explain that to her, to let her know that she shouldn't be afraid of him and that it didn't matter if he was angry, it would never come to that.

He rinsed the blood from his knuckles, turned off the shower and got dressed. That's right, all he needed to do was just explain things to her.

* * *

Hermione and Draco met at the staff entrance to the Great hall and stared at each other.

When it didn't seem that the silence was going to break Hermione made to start her explanation.

"I'm sorry…" she said and then watched as he clenched his jaw. Maybe that wasn't the way to start things out after this morning.

Draco listened to her apologize for the second time today and wanted to just snog her senseless for using her unimportant words again. Didn't she understand that he didn't want to hear it. He wanted her to strip naked and stop all this nonsense with the words that had gotten them in this fucked up predicament it the first place.

All their words had done was put more space between them. She needed to _show_ him that she was sorry. Come to him and kiss him to let him know that it was okay to touch her, to close the awkward space between them. He tried to calm down. There was no point in getting mad about something that she'd never understand. Maybe he should show her.

Hermione looked away from him, unable to meet his cold eyes. Why was he so angry? All she could do was say she was sorry, what else was there?

Her head shot up as he moved to stand before her.

Draco wanted her so badly and his body was yelling at him for not having relieved some of that pressure earlier when he'd had the chance. He tried to ignore his need for her as he bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. He put his hand in her hair and pushed harder when she didn't respond to him and she whimpered against him.

He backed away suddenly, looking down at her. That wasn't the sound of someone who wanted more. And sure enough, Hermione stood there, her wide eyes brimming with tears.

And for what?!

He was trying to be gentle.

Hermione tried to hold back her tears when he kissed her. The kiss was soft and not too demanding, but his anger radiated off of him and she felt like if she moved he'd lash out. This must have been what Belle felt like when she first encountered the Beast. He was trying to be nice, but there was an underlining fury.

She just knew he was upset with her and she couldn't get past it.

Draco took a deep breath trying to relax his tense body. If anyone should be crying…

He turned around and went into the Great Hall.

Hermione stood there in shock. She was sure that she'd just witnessed, beneath all that anger, Draco Malfoy in the emotional state of 'hurt.'

He was hurt. Hermione couldn't fathom what was happening in his head. But at that moment she felt like she was a complete monster.

She was going to fix this. She just needed to talk to him.

* * *

Damien had spent most of the day being ignored by Danielle. He was trying to put forth the kind of crushing effort it took to apologize to her, but it was just too much for his ego to take. What was left of it, that is.

After she'd told him off yesterday he'd been walking around like a dead man. Never before in his life had he been so, so… so embarrassed. He wanted to fess up to his stupidity and say he was sorry to her, but he couldn't do it without feeling embarrassment.

He never wanted to feel that kind of emotion again. It was painful.

Their had to be another way to fix things without having to say it out loud. Even she had to understand that it was crossing his boundaries to emit the word sorry. He had to show her that he felt like an idiot.

He looked up hearing her and Spencer coming down the hall from their last class.

This was it. He walked up to them, their laughter dying out, and then he and Nix shared a look of understanding before Spencer excused himself to some task.

Danielle looked up at him knowing what was coming. He'd been at it all day, trying to start polite conversation. She got it, she knew he was sorry. And as much as she wanted to just forgive him and move on, he was going around, refusing to just say the words, 'I'm sorry' to her.

That's all she really wanted. Just to hear him say it. Then they could move on.

"Danielle," he started and she nodded curtly.

"Scott," she said and he winced at her sour tone. He sighed.

"You want to get in one more practice with me today before vacation starts?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Not really," she said and began walking away. He walked along side her, hating that he was resorting to this.

Then he realized something.

Here he was going through all of this trouble to keep from saying a few words that he felt were beneath him, when he could just say them and be done with all of this crap that was making him look like a pansy.

He pulled her to a stop and she spun on him annoyed.

"What?" she asked.

Damien tried to ignore the heat rising to his face and how uncool he probably looked right now. He took a deep breath.

"I'm," he started and his heart raced. God this feeling was horrible. But it was either this, or more hours of belittling himself. "Danielle, I'm…" he tried again.

"You're?" she pushed, watching his uncharacteristic behavior.

"God damn it," he cursed, "I'm sorry, fuck" he swore and Danielle looked at him in shock, then she laughed. It wasn't exactly how she'd imagined it, but it obviously took a lot of effort and he was sincere, that much she could tell.

She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"See you on the pitch later," she said and watched his face glow, looking confused, "later Damien," she said before walking away.

Damien stood there baffled. Maybe sometimes it really was easier to give in, he smirked.

"Good work mate," came Spencer's voice from behind him. "It wasn't exactly elegant, but it got the job done," he laughed and Damien sighed. Figured that Nix would be there to experience his ever embarrassing moment.

"I'm surprised Scott," came a second voice and Damien wanted to murder the both of them.

He turned around to face Flores and Nix with their grinning faces.

That's right, now that Flores was around, he always had a second witness to his stupidity. Tanner put and arm around his shoulders.

"I'm glad this has all worked out in time for the trip," he laughed and although he wished he was far away from the two of them right now, he agreed with Flores.

He too was glad that things worked out before vacation.

* * *

Draco was so annoyed, that even he, Mr. responsibility, wanted to leave this school without warning and go hide out until he felt like coming back.

Hermione had taken to running up to him every chance she got. Again with all the fake smiling and the ridiculous words of apology.

At this point, he really just wanted to forgive her and move on, but he couldn't. When ever she came near, timid and cautious, he just couldn't keep his temper from rising at the sight of her.

If he was going to knock her upside the head, he'd have done it by now, and yet she kept coming up to him in a manner that told him that she thought it was still a possibility. The way she kept a distance, her body strained and every time he made a move her eyes would follow him in fear.

There had to be something wrong with her. Why couldn't she see that coming to him like this, was only making things worse?

He would be fine, minding his own, and then she'd come up looking the way she did and he'd go right back to were he had been.

And she was again, back for more, he noticed out of the corner of his eye.

Hermione walked her way slowly up to him. He'd ignored her the better part of the day and this time she was going to get things right.

She thought that it was going to be the same as the last time he was mad with her, but this was a great deal worse. He was like a werewolf. One wrong move and he'd claw her to death. She knew he wouldn't do anything of the sort after repeated encounters today, but it was just the way that he made her feel.

She didn't want to cower the way she did, but her body just couldn't stand tall with him like this. When she reached him, he let out a deep exasperated sigh and turned to face her.

This was it. She was going to talk to him this time, tell him why she'd stopped them last night and calm this fearsome beast once and for all. It was dinner and they had nowhere to be. She took a deep breath and smiled up at him.

"Can I walk with you to dinner?" she asked and he glared at her before turning and continuing to walk. She took this as her silent cue to follow.

She ran up beside him, somewhat skipping to keep at his pace.

"So…" she started, not sure of where to take this conversation. She'd already tried all the mundane conversation starters earlier today and she wasn't about to start out with anymore of the word sorry coming out of her mouth. " can we talk for a bit," she said and he stopped in his tracks and turned to look down on her expectantly.

Hermione cleared her throat. She hadn't expected for him to really stop and give her a chance. She stood there trying to think.

"I," she started, feeling her body caving into itself again as he stared down at her with his piercing glare that just got more and more angry. The longer it took her to answer, the angrier he got, and the farther the words seemed to slip away from being reached.

"You?" he said in his cool voice. Even with his rage rolling off of him in waves, he managed to entice her with his words. She looked up into his eyes her heart raced both with fear and anticipation.

"I," she started, her voice coming out in a whisper, "I don't know," she said. And it was true, she had nothing to say at the moment that would get rid of the air about them. He chuckled a dark laugh.

"Then get back to me when you do." he said and then started to walk away.

Hermione stood there in shock for only a second before she recovered. She couldn't let him get away this time. Not when he had finally started talking to her. She caught him by the arm.

"Wait," she said and he stopped, waiting for her to go on. She figured that she may as well just get to the point before he wasn't in a listening mood anymore. "Last night," she started and before she knew what was happening he had her against the wall.

"Last night?" he goaded her to continue and Hermione understood that she was going to be stuck here until she explained.

"Last night," she repeated, "I was unsure," she said.

"Understandable," he replied. And as though that were explanation enough, he started to walk away but Hermione turned him back around.

"I'm not done," she said sternly and Draco smiled at her tone. This was his defensive Hermione. If he pushed her far enough, she'd push back. She didn't look good when she was cowering. This was all he needed, for her to be herself.

Draco's smile was genuine and Hermione was suddenly in awe of his full lips and the sharp canines she'd never noticed he had.

"My apologies," he said as he loomed over her again and Hermione felt the mood lighten instantly. She blushed.

"Yes well," she started, trying to disguise her reaction to him and this made him smirk, which in turn made her swoon.

She quickly cleared her throat, "Can we discuss things in your room? If you don't mind skipping dinner?" she asked wanting to clear the air so that she could get back to thinking clearly.

Draco pretended to think about it, pinching his chin and turning his head skyward. Hermione looked a little worried until he smiled and she glared at him smacking his arm.

He laughed and it was just like that, that things settled between them and went back to normal.

* * *

Draco and Hermione sat on his bed in an awkward silence.

Draco sighed. "Come on then. You wanted to talk." he said annoyed and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Give me a minute, I'm trying to think of what to say!" she yelled.

"You've already had twenty minutes, how much more can you need just to tell me something that I know you've probably thought out over a hundred times by now," he huffed, getting impatient.

He wanted them to get this over with because the longer she sat here the less likely it was that he was going to let her leave untouched.

She huffed at him, "okay," she started and then turned so that her body was completely turned to face him, "simply put, I don't want you to have any control over me." she said and Draco frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked and she blushed.

"See!" she yelled annoyed, "I told you I had to figure out how to say it."

Draco laughed, "just elaborate." he stated.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Well, it was because of the dream," she said and then shot him a pointed look, to make sure that they were on the same page. When he smirked at her, she rolled her eyes and continued. "Well, last night…" she blushed trying to get the words out.

"Go on," he coaxed and she nodded.

"When you were about to," she stopped and pointed at his mouth and then down between her legs.

"Eat you out." he supplied and Hermione's face burned at his casual use of such a phrase.

"Right," she said awkwardly, "well it was what happened at the end of that dream I had," she managed to choke out and she could see him trying to hold back his laughter.

She glared at him and he cleared his throat.

"Go on," he smiled and she bit her lip.

"I don't want to feel like I did in that dream, like I couldn't stop you from doing what you want." she explained, "Like I have no power over myself."

"Thought you liked 'aggressive' men," he smiled at her revelation.

"I do," she answered sheepishly. "but I don't like the feeling of having no control over myself, and you make me feel that way. You're too dominant." she elaborated and Draco felt like he'd been slapped in the face.

"Never heard that one before," he said contemplative and Hermione had a sudden thought.

"Draco," she started, calling his attention back to the situation, "How many women have you been with?" she asked innocently and Draco looked away from her.

"A few," he answered evasively. Hermione looked at him skeptically.

"What's a few?" she asked, "like three or four?"

Draco shrugged, "Something like that," he answered and Hermione sat forward catching his eyes.

"How many?" she asked seriously.

Draco looked into her big searching eyes and opted for truth. It was going to come up sooner or later. He was hoping it was after he'd bedded her.

"I lose count," he said and watched as Hermione sat back in shock.

"That many?" she asked confused, "that's…" she trailed off.

"What?" he asked.

"Disgusting," she answered honestly and Draco rolled his eyes at her.

"What about you?" he asked and Hermione, no longer feeling ashamed of the number of men she'd been with answered honestly with a shrug, "two," she said.

Draco smiled inwardly. He was going to teach her so many things.

"So, what now?" he asked, "you don't want to be with me?"

Hermione scowled. "Of course I do," she said feeling offended that he'd think his past had anything to do with them now. "But I don't want you to be the dominating me." she answered with a shrug.

"How does that work?" he smiled and leaned into her for a kiss. She powerlessly leaned in to him, then catching her actions pulled back abruptly and he smirked at her.

Hermione stood from the bed.

"I guess we just can't have sex until we come up with something," she sighed watching his face closely, "maybe you could just lay there and not touch me at all so that I can feel like I have control," she suggested and laughed at the face of skepticism she received.

"What do you want? For me to let you tie me up so you can have your way with me?" Draco began in outrage and Hermione blushed, "because I can tell you now, that's not happening."

* * *

"I can't believe this is happening…" Draco mumbled as Hermione did a bondage spell on the last of his limbs, securing him to his bed.

"Is it so bad to be in the opposite position for once?" she asked looking down at him in nothing but his boxers.

"What do you think?" he asked moodily.

Draco hated this feeling. Never once in his life had he been on bottom unless he positioned the girl in such a way, and even then, it didn't last long. Hermione smiled down at him.

"We can stop here and try again another time if you're not ready," she said and he glared at her. She knew damn well that he wanted her now. "If you're sure…" she said with a smile, "then I guess I'll start."

Draco watched her as she started to undo the buttons of her dress shirt. When she noticed him looking she blushed and turned away.

"Don't stare at me, it's making me nervous." she said, her back to him and he sighed angrily.

"All I can do is watch, you should at least give me that much," he complained and she stopped her movements contemplating that before she conceded and turned back around to face him.

She continued with the buttons trying to ignore his gaze. When finally she got the shirt undone and let it drop to the floor, she looked up at him. He was breathing hard and biting his lower lip. His hands, tied magically together at the top of his bed, were clenching into fists and then unclenching.

Hermione looked down his muscular body to where his boxers were tented between his legs and her face flushed.

It was actually a lot harder this way, than just letting him have his way with her, she noticed. If he wasn't bound right now, she'd be naked and they'd be in the midst of passion already. She could barely stand the way he was watching her. She felt so exposed.

Maybe she should stop…

But then she realized that that was probably a horrible idea. After she'd gone on and on about needing to be in power and then having him submit to her like this, hurting his pride and all that, she couldn't stop. She was already too deep.

She looked away from him and started to undo her pants. She dragged them down her legs, pulling off her socks along with them. She tried not to look at him as she put her arm behind her and undid her bra.

As she was slowly removing it, she wondered why this was so damn hard. He'd seen her breasts more than once already. She shook thought out of her mind. No thinking.

She let the bra hit the floor aware that there was only one thing left to get rid of, she put her thumbs under the elastic of her modest panties and started to drag them down her hips, but made the mistake of looking up at him. She stopped what she was doing watching him take ragged breaths and wondered what he was thinking.

Draco lay there trying his best not to yell at her to hurry it up. All this teasing, hadn't he been through enough.

This was never how he imagined their first time, and yet he wanted her so bad that here he was, letting her do this to him.

Fuck you too, universe.

He knew that 'it' was at fault here. It was karma coming back to get him for all those women he's slept with and then ditched. Or maybe it was god, telling him that to get, he had to give, something that he often ignored.

But of all the things his pride had gone through with her, this one took the cake. Infact, it wasn't just in these past two weeks that his pride was at it's lowest, it was in his entire life. This was humiliating and daunting. After this, who knew if he would ever be the same?

Alright, that being said, he also had to admit that this was by far the most arousing thing that he'd ever experienced. He wouldn't go so far as to say that he'd ever want to do this again. But yes, she was unbelievably sexy right now.

He just wished that she drop her insecurities and come at him like she had all day yesterday, so that she could put him out of his misery. Ugh, her doing this to him was so backward he could hardly stand it.

Hermione just couldn't get her hands to remove the panties so she gave up on that and climbed onto the bed. She didn't miss the look of disappointment that crossed his features.

She straddled his waist so that she wasn't touching his hardness and he let out a grown impatiently. Still she sat herself on his stomach.

"I," she started sheepishly, "I don't know what to do," she said feeling embarrassed. He smiled up at her.

"You could untie me and I'll help you out," he said, his voice husky. Hermione blushed.

"No," she answered and he glared at her. Hermione smiled. She suddenly felt the weight of being in charge of the situation. This had the potential to be fun…if she weren't so damn nervous.

She took a deep breath.

She let her hands start at Draco's shoulders and she ran them over his hard chest to his ribs, all the while she watched his face. He was breathing deep and his eyes were fixed on hers.

Hermione felt that feeling rising in her again. That wild and carnal feeling she got when he was with her. He still had power, over her. No matter that he was tied up, his eyes alone could do this to her.

She leaned down and kissed him softly. He lifted his head to hers when she backed away, not wanting to be parted and Hermione got a twisted pleasure out of it. She was making him feel the way she'd been feeling for so long now.

She placed little kisses down his jaw to his neck, licking and nibbling there before she continued to his collar bone, giving that a nip as well.

Hermione was pleased with the deep sighs he let out whenever she did something that he liked. She watched as he continued to clench and unclench his fists and smiled, realizing

that he wanted to touch her.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked unabashed, and he looked at her shocked.

"You know what I want," he answered darkly and Hermione shook her head.

"I won't untie you, but you can tell me what your hands would be doing to me," she said and was shocked with herself but also pleased with his reaction. He stared up at her in disbelief.

Then he smirked at her, "first off," he started, " I want those panties off of you," he said and Hermione still couldn't help but blush. She shook her head at that.

"Not yet," she said, "something else…"

He sighed, "can you sit properly?" he asked and she looked at him confused, "move down a bit," he explained and she sat there looking at him for a moment before she got on her knees and shuffled down some, when she was above the appropriate area she looked at him questioningly.

He thrusted up to her, "Sit," he said and she smiled at him but did not listen. Instead she went further down and sat on his thighs. Then she pulled his boxers down releasing him.

He hated this. It was too degrading. "Why ask what I want if you have no intention of giving it to me?" he asked and then gasped when she let her finger slide up the length of him. Hermione blushed as it went back to it's original state.

"I don't know," she said.

It was true. It wasn't that she was purposefully disobeying him, she'd just looked down at his penis, trapped in the confides of his boxers and her body moved to fix that.

Draco shut his eyes taking deep calming breaths. This was too frustrating. If she were to ask what he wanted her to do next, he would tell her to put her mouth on him. Of course though, she'd never do something like that.

Now she was playing with it down there, stroking it too slowly for his liking and not tight enough either. He looked down at her, hating that he was coming to this.

"Please," he said through gritted teeth, and Hermione let go of his member looking up at him, "untie me, I won't do anything you don't want me to, but you have to untie me," he pleaded and Hermione sat flabbergasted at his beseeching. She felt horrible for him suddenly. She stood from the bed and he watched her every move.

"No," she said and then slipped out of her underwear. "We can stop if you want, but I know that if I unbind you, you won't listen to me." she said and Draco knew it was true. When he didn't say anything she climbed back on the bed and straddled him feeling him bare against her for the first time. It sent a heat running through her.

She adjusted herself above him and then used her hand to guide him into her. She cried out as she sat on him until the length of him was inside of her.

Draco tried his best not to thrust into her. If he did that, she may just get up and leave him again for being too _overbearing_. He was gasping for air, doing his best to stay submissive as she let her hands run across his body but refused to move on top of him.

Hermione was adjusting to him and she could see that it was painful for him. With a sigh she got up from him and heard him grunt in frustration. He looked up at her with a pained expression and she smiled.

She picked up her wand from the bedside table and he watched her with a knowing look.

"I know," she started, "it's unfair of me to put you through what I fear just so that I don't have to be uncomfortable. Especially if its making you feel the way I didn't want to." she said and undid the binding of his legs. He stayed still as she came forward and tapped at the binding around his wrists.

As soon as the bondage disappeared he attacked. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down to him. In her shock she dropped her wand and in an instant she was on bottom, pinned by the wrists and him between her legs.

He was breathing so hard and with such short breaths that she was sure he wasn't getting enough oxygen to his brain. He leaned down to her ear.

"Hermione, I won't be gentle," he breathed out. And Hermione felt a chill go down her spine. "Just this once," he continued raggedly, "next time, I'll be better. But don't make me go slow." he whispered and Hermione found his words incredibly enticing.

Her breathing picked up and she didn't know if she was making the right decision by saying this, but right now she wanted him to have his way with her. "Just this once," she answered and then she cried out as he entered her with a rough thrust, pushing deep into her. He kissed her, trying not to move as she settled, welcoming his kiss.

He let his hands caress her body, let her move against him beneath him while holding still, let her adjust to him inside her.

She was so warm and moist, he needed to move.

He parted their kiss, looking down at her, and as though she and he were on the same page, she wrapped her legs around him and nodded.

He pulled out slowly and then thrust back in just as slow until Hermione whimpered and thrusted her hips up, wanting him to give more. He pushed deep into her and she moaned out, an appreciative smile lighting her face.

He thrust into her, licking and kissing every area he could reach. Hermione fisted his hair and rubbed his body marveling at his strength. He let one hand grab hold of her butt and pull her into him while his other kneaded her breast. He kissed her deeply and Hermione could feel the heat of climax build up in her loins.

She held him tighter her moaning louder and coming in quick pace. He sped up his movement knowing that she was close.

She sank her nails into him, wrapping her legs tighter around him and arched against him throwing her head back and crying out as she released on him.

He felt her tighten around him and had to slow down to keep from letting himself go. He wasn't done with her just yet.

Hermione let her limbs fall limp as she finished, trying to catch her breath. She looked up at him smiling down at her and blushed furiously. He pulled her up. So that she was sitting on his bent legs and he kissed her, putting a hand in her curls and pulling her down to him.

She moaned into his mouth as he moved inside her again. She was sensitive and his movements were amplified. She squirmed around on top of him trying to stop the coming of another climax. She bit her lip stifling her moans.

Draco smiled at her, letting her fall back to the bed and pulling out of her. Hermione gasped at the sudden emptiness, looking up at him confused. He turned her onto her stomach pulling her up by the hips so that she was on her knees. And then from behind her he thrust back in and she arched her back crying out.

He let his hands cup both of her breasts as he pushed in her, kissing her shoulders and back.

Hermione whimpered into the pillow feeling herself getting ready to burst again.

Draco pulled her so that he stood straight up while on his knees and she was sitting up unable to muffle herself with the pillow, her back was arched far enough for him to lean forward and bite her ear.

"Don't hold it back," he whispered quickening his pace and Hermione came on him again, reaching her hands behind them to grab hold of his butt, squeezing and pulling him into her . He rested his head between her shoulder blades as he released along with her. Sucking in air between his clenched teeth.

Draco held her to him tight, his arms wrapped around her waist while he caught his breath, kissing her shoulder blades smiling as she shivered when he did.

Finally they collapsed onto the bed. Draco pulled up the blanket and held her close listening to her calm her breathing.

"Glad you untied me?" he asked with a laugh and Hermione sighed.

"If my body wasn't so heavy, I'd smack you," she answered between breaths and he chuckled.

"You brought it upon yourself you know," he said, "with that little strip tease of yours."

Hermione was silent and then he realized that she was already asleep. He sighed, the first women that he wouldn't mind chatting with after sex, and she passes out.

He smiled pulling her closer protectively. She was finally his, and even the fact that they'd be venturing to Potter's house in just a few short hours couldn't upset him.

Then he grunted. Maybe it could upset him a bit. But all in all, Hermione was in his bed, and had been claimed. More importantly, _he_ also belonged to her.

Draco relaxed into the peace of his room, the silence only disturbed by the light slumber of Hermione beside him and fell asleep.

* * *

Hermione and Draco sat on the Hogwarts express as it slowed to a stop in King's Cross.

Draco grabbed Hermione's things before she could argue and they stepped out onto platform 9 3/4. As soon as _they_ came into view, his hell started.

Hermione ran up to Potter and gave him an overjoyed hug. Then to his disgust turned to Blaise, wrapping her arms around his neck hugging him tightly as well. Then he watched as Blaise pulled her close and gave her a little spin before planting her feet back on the ground and sending Draco a smirk from over her shoulder.

Draco glared at him as Harry laughed and then proceded to grab some of the bags from Draco's shoulder. Harry looked at Draco seriously while Hermione and Blaise talked across the way.

"Malfoy," Harry greeted and Draco nodded.

"Potter," he said and then there was an awkward silence as they watched the other two continue to chat, Hermione laughing.

"If you're wondering," Harry started, gesturing to Blaise's warm welcome, "He apparently saw her sleeping in a towel." Harry explained and watched as realization came over Draco's features.

Draco gritted his teeth and stormed over to the two standing between them and then putting a possessive arm around her shoulders walking her away toward the barrier.

Blaise and Harry sent each other bemused looks and then followed after them.

Harry felt somewhat ashamed of himself for messing with Malfoy like that, but what the hell? Now that he and Hermione were together, he had to be initiated into the group. At least that's how Ron had put it with an evil smile on his face, when both Harry and Blaise had explained what had been happening to him.

Ron was actually quite amused to find out that Malfoy and Hermione were now and item, and he and Blaise had been up all night laughing and coming up with ways to annoy Malfoy every chance that they got.

Harry, being the middle man in all of these things, was simply going along with the plan.

As long as Hermione wasn't their aim, he had no qualms with getting under Malfoy's skin.

Harry and Blaise followed a short distance away from the new couple.

"It's, sad really," Blaise laughed and Harry gave him a quizzical look, "Poor bloke has no idea what he's in for these coming weeks." he said then looked at Harry with a smile before passing through the barrier.

Harry sighed.

If he kept hanging out with Blaise, he was going to hell.

**THE END…**

**Or is it? **

**Look forward to the sequel **


	19. After Thoughts on Innerhouse Relations

Sequel is up 1-9-10 **Outerhouse Relation go read it.**

_**After thoughts****.**_

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!**

SO this is it.

This little experiment called** 'Innerhouse Relations'** turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. I put a lot of myself (ideals, thought processing and beliefs) into creating the characters. Most of the actions and personality belong to a mix of friends lol. Like the Drunken Hermione is a spitting image of my best friend when she gets drunk and spews what ever she'd been trying to hide lol.

Damien is loosely based off of my husband lol. And he was pretty offended when he read the Damien mind process.

This story was an adventure and while your waiting for the sequel, feel free to check out my other stories. (**Self promotion**!) I have a very open writing style, depending on what I'm working on and so you may find that you like my more descriptive stuff better.

* * *

If you would, give **Sweet Nectar **a try. I'm planning on deleting it if I don't get more reviews, because it may be a little too out there for ppl. But I was writing it because I was tired of Veela and Vampire Draco's. So check that our if you don't mind or have some free time.

If you want a good 30min laugh, read my **What fanfiction writer and readers want **stories. It was what inspired me to write **Innerhouse Relations**. And the tones are kind of the same.

Other than that.

I need a TITLE for the sequel…

If you have a suggestion, go ahead and give it to me!

In the next story I really want to focus on the humor and the building of communication between Draco and Hermione. I also have the fear that there's no where to go once the two characters have fornicated, lol. But I'm going to do my best to keep things down to earth with a realistic forwarding of a relationship, along with the fun and humor of unrealistic stupidity and misunderstanding. Lol.

* * *

**Things I wanted to say before I forget:**

I got a comment about not using the nickname_ 'Mione' _and how that reviewer was happy with it. I just want to say that it was for good reason. I really hate_ Mione_ and I remember the first story where I read that nickname, I was disgusted. But it's no where as bad as 'Herms' sigh…

HERMS?!!!!

WTF?

And 'Herms' is almost as bad as M PREG (male pregnancy)

I don't mind my share of Harry/Draco and I don't know who came up with that, but come on…

Hems and a man getting pregnant? What is fanfiction coming too? lol

I also got commented about characterization, and I want to say thank you guys for noticing. That, above all things in this story, was what I wanted ppl to take back with them. That Draco doesn't need to be totally brooding to be a good character and that Hermione doesn't have to be super abnormally smart or witty either.

I also want to point out that I hate OC's and I'm still shocked out of my head that you all really enjoyed the students as much as you did.

It really trips me out that so many of you want to here the rest of their story for winter vacation, and I'll be sure to include what's going on, on their side of the tracks, just for you.

Another thing. In real life Ron is my favorite character, but I hate him in fanfictions. The reason being that I agree with the way he is portrayed as an asshole about Hermione's choices. That he's one sided and hardheaded. The only times that Ron ever seems to not be on Hermione's case is when he's involved with someone of his own, but at this point in my story, and in Ron's life, I don't see him being committed to anyone right now.

For the same reason I hate most fics with Ginny in them, so you probably wont see much of her in my stories.

Not looking forward to writing Ron at all but I'll try to give him my image. I fear that in making him not angry about things, I'll lose the realism of Ron. But I guess we'll see.

I really want to say that, if anyone wants to correct my story, they are more than welcome to contact me about it. I have yet to reread any of my chapters and I don't really want to either.

For those of you who don't know, I don't have a computer or internet and that is why there are so may mistakes in the story. I write out what I want to write and then I post it. So most of this was done without second thought for the most part.

I'll try to take more care on the next story, so as not to turn out trash. I also don't go back and read old chapters once posted, because it muddles up what I want to do next, with 'what if's' or 'should I's' and it makes moving forward a lot more complicated for me.

For example, that's what happened after I wrote Hermione's confession scene and then it took me forever to upload the next chapter because I lost track of where I was going.

* * *

As for all of you who were frequent reviewers, I want to really thank you for getting me through this story.

Thank you to all the ppl who added me to their faves! There's so many that I cant believe it.

And an even bigger thanks to the very few of you who added me to your faves.

Happy with the reviews I got because I honestly hated the ending and didn't think I get as good feed back as I did. The only reason I didn't mind it going up so much, was because it's not really the end with the sequel on the way.

* * *

I'm happy that we could all have this kind of fun together and I'm looking forward to living up to your expectations in the future. So if your ever looking for someone to write something fresh, when fanfiction gets stale, look for me to hopefully deliver.

I want to bring a new light to fanfictions if I can. Hope you all give me honest feedback about what I'm doing in the stories I write.

**If you have any questions about the sequel or anything else, that you'd like answered, then PM me or leave it in a review and I'll get back to you a.s.a.p!**

**Sequel up 1-9-10  
**


	20. It's up!

**its up! **

**go read it!**

**Outerhouse Relations.  
**


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